James and Durant headline All-Star selections

NEW YORK - Most Valuable Player LeBron James of the Miami Heat and top scorer Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder headlined the list of players selected for the All-NBA team, the league said on Thursday.Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers joined James and Durant on the first team.James, who has won three of the last four league MVP awards, earned first team honors for a fifth consecutive season and sixth overall since entering the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2003.The eight-time All-Star ranked third in the NBA in scoring, averaging 27.1 per game in the 2011-12 season, and paced the Heat in assists, with an average of 6.2 per game.Durant gained All-NBA first team selection for a third time after leading the league in scoring (28 points per game) for a third straight year. He scored at least 40 points four times, including a career-high 51 against the Denver Nuggets.Magic center Howard, who led the league in rebounding with a career-high average of 14.5 per game and also in field goal percentage (.573), won All-NBA first team honors for a fifth consecutive season.Bryant was chosen for the seventh consecutive season and 10th time in his career while fellow guard Paul, who paced the league in steals with an average of 2.53 per game, gained the honor for a second time.The second team consisted of San Antonio’s Tony Parker, Oklahoma’s Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota’s Kevin Love and Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers.Third team members were Miami’s Dwyane Wade, Boston’s Rajon Rondo, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks, and Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki.The teams were selected by a panel of 120 journalists in the United States and Canada.