Houston will host the 2006 NBA All-Star Game on February 19, NBA commissioner David Stern announced on Tuesday.

"Houston has distinguished itself as a sports center," Stern told a news conference in the Toyota Center, Houston, where is the Rockets home court.

This is to be the second time for the city to host the midseason event. Houston held the All-Star Game in 1989 at the Astrodome.

NBA All-Star has evolved into a week-long celebration. The competitions tip off on Friday as the League's top rookies and second-year players square off in the Rookie Challenge.

The excitement continues the next day with NBA All-Star Saturday featuring the Shooting Stars, a shooting competition featuring NBA, WNBA players and NBA legends; Skills Challenge, a competition of top guards working against the clock to complete a series of passes, long-rang shots and agility drills; and the Three-point Shootout, where six of the NBA's best shooters compete against eath other and versus the clock in the test of three-pointshooting accuracy. The evening's great finale is the Slam Dunk Contest.

The week concludes with the NBA ALL-Star Game on Sunday before a worldwide television audience that reaches more than 200 countries and regions.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2004)