Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves lead all players in the Western Conference and Shaquille O?Neal of the Miami Heat and Vince Carter of the New Jersey Nets lead all players in the Eastern Conference in votes received after the fourth returns of the 2005 NBA All-Star Balloting program.

Through the 2005 All-Star Balloting program, NBA fans from around the globe are responsible for voting in the starters for the 54th NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in Denver on Sunday, February 20. The game will be broadcast live on TNT, Rogers Sportsnet, ESPN Radio and audio in several languages on NBA.com (http://nba.com) at 8 p.m. (EST).

Yao leads all players with 2,153,039 votes. He is followed at the center position in the Western Conference by Sacramento?s Brad Miller (328,537). Garnett, the 2003-04 NBA Most Valuable Player, is third in overall votes received and leads all Western Conference forwards with 1,755,124 votes, followed by San Antonio?s Tim Duncan (1,446,824). Houston?s Tracy McGrady (1,688,159) and Los Angeles Lakers? Kobe Bryant (1,551,177) lead all Western Conference guards and round out the top five vote-getters.

O?Neal leads all Eastern Conference players with 2,099,201 votes, followed at the center position by Detroit?s Ben Wallace (644,543). Carter (1,505,169) and Orlando?s Grant Hill (1,273,846) lead all Eastern Conference forwards. Cleveland?s LeBron James (1,351,369) has regained the lead among Eastern Conference guards followed by Philadelphia?s Allen Iverson (1,341,824).