LOS ANGELES (AP) At 34, he finally made his first NBA All-Star squad.

Sam Cassell has been one of the league's more consistent performers for more than a decade, but it took him 11 years to get All-Star recognition.

``I don't know why. I'm not a bad guy,'' Cassell said, laughing and shaking his head. ``Looking at stats, and my team winning, I thought it was all there for me.''

Cassell, a reserve on the Western Conference squad, is averaging a career-high 21 points and 7.8 assists in his first season with Minnesota.

Even more importantly for the Timberwolves, he has provided stability and leadership for the team's banged-up backcourt, and Minnesota's 37-15 record is its best ever at the All-Star break.

``I'm very, very excited to see Sam finally getting the recognition he deserves,'' said Timberwolves _ and All-Star _ teammate Kevin Garnett. ``He's done a great job, and I think he's being rejuvenated a little bit by the All-Star recognition.''

Garnett smiled and added, ``Of course, he'd deny that.''

Whatever the case, Cassell certainly seemed to be having a good time Friday afternoon as he held court with reporters at his designated table, just a few feet from where Garnett was sitting and answering questions.

Talking about playing with Garnett, Cassell said, ``A guy like Kevin Garnett is like Advil; he relieves the pressure.''

Cassell is the second-oldest first-time All-Star in NBA history, one month younger than New York's Sweetwater Clifton in 1957.

``It's amazing, everything that I expected,'' Cassell said. ``Some of the guys I battle with night in and night out, I can be friends with for a while.

``Afterward, I won't like them again.''

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BIG MEN:@ Asked if Shaquille O'Neal is the most physical player he's gone up against so far, Houston's Yao Ming nodded.

Then he smiled and added, through an interpreter, ``And I don't think there will be anyone more physical than him afterward, either.''

Yao finished ahead of O'Neal in the fans' All-Star balloting for the second consecutive year, so will start for the Western Conference.

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GIMME MY TROPHY:@ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made a record 18 NBA All-Star appearances, but the five-time regular-season MVP never won that honor in the All-Star game.

His most memorable All-Star outing, he said, is the ``one where they wouldn't give me the MVP'' in 1971, when he was still Lew Alcindor and played for Milwaukee.

He scored 19 points, including a 5-foot jumper and free throw with 48 seconds remaining to give the West a 108-107 victory in that game, and also had 14 rebounds.

Seattle's Lenny Wilkens, who scored a a game-high 21 points, was the MVP.

``They voted for the MVP at halftime, and I definitely won it in the second half,'' Abdul-Jabbar recalled. ``Then the writers came over and said they were sorry. But that was the worst.

``Lenny Wilkens had a great first half, but the game was really decided in the second half. Jerry West and I took over the game in the last two minutes and I scored six or seven points and we won it.''

Abdul-Jabbar grinned and added, ``I told somebody that now that Lenny's coaching again, I'm going to go to his house and steal the MVP trophy.''

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STAYING EMPLOYED:@ The Lakers' Derek Fisher would prefer that Kobe Bryant _ and Shaquille O'Neal _ hang around Los Angeles for at least a few more years.

``My job security depends a lot on those two guys,'' Fisher said.

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KIDS' DAY:@ Shaquille O'Neal showed up at the media session Friday with 3-year-old daughter Aimirah.

At first, she happily munched a cookie, then took off her shoe. Soon, she poked a curious finger into the fuzzy microphones stuck in her father's face. She undid a pin that secured bunting to the table before O'Neal took it away from her.

When Aimirah climbed into O'Neal's lap and started babbling, he shushed her with a smile. She had O'Neal and reporters laughing when she grabbed his lips with her tiny hands and squeezed them together, then covered his face with her hands.

T.J. Kidd is a preschooler, too, but worlds apart in media savvy. The son of New Jersey's Jason Kidd wore a black headband and mugged for the TV cameras at the slightest provocation.

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STAR SIGHTINGS:@ Celebrities came out to see rookies LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony team up in the rookie game Friday night.

Rapper Jay-Z, actress-director Penny Marshall, former Miami Heat coach Pat Riley, New Orleans guard Baron Davis, Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell were among those in the crowd. Lakers teammates Shaquille O'Neal and Rick Fox each brought one of their kids.