Rose climbs past Rondo in NBA All-Star voting

Derrick Rose continues to surge in the polls. The NBA released the latest all-star voting results Thursday and Rose surpassed Boston's Rajon Rondo for second place among East guards with 1,225,575 votes.

In just over two weeks, Rose has made up roughly 125,000 votes. He once trailed Rondo by 70,000 but now leads by 54,000 votes.

If this trend holds up, the East squad would feature a starting backcourt with two Chicago natives — Rose and Miami's Dwyane Wade.

The other vote leaders in the East are Orlando's Dwight Howard at center, with Miami's LeBron James and New York's Amare Stoudemire at forward.

Leaders in the Western Conference are the Lakers' Kobe Bryant and New Orleans' Chris Paul at guard; Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Denver's Carmelo Anthony at forward; along with injured Houston center Yao Ming. Andrew Bynum of the Lakers currently ranks second at center.

Fans can for the all-star starters vote daily at Bulls.com/votebulls, inside the United Center or via their mobile phones by texting the player's last name to 6-9-6-2-2. Paper balloting at NBA arenas continues through Jan. 17, while electronic voting ends Jan. 23.

Starters will be announced live on TNT on Jan. 27. The 2011 NBA All-Star Game will be played at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 20.