Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, who will make his second All-Star Game appearance next weekend, will represent the Wolves in the 2012 Foot Locker 3-Point Shooting Contest the league announced today. In doing so, Love becomes the first Wolves player to ever participate in the 3-point Shooting Contest. Love will square off against James Jones and Mario Chalmers of Miami, Orlando's Ryan Anderson, New Jersey Nets guard Anthony Morrow and Joe Johnson of Atlanta as part of NBA All-Star Saturday Night (7:30 p.m. CST on TNT).

For the season Love has made a team-best 44 3-point shots, connecting on 36.1 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. His 44 3-pointers rank 28th in the league, 7th among NBA forwards, and his 36.1 percent clip from beyond the arc ranks him 16th among players with 100+ attempts. Love has tied his single-game career high of five 3-pointers twice this season (Jan. 1 vs. Dallas: 5-of-6; Jan. 23 vs. Houston: 5-of-5) and has made 3+ 3-pointers six times this season. Love recently had a two-game stretch where he hit 9-of-11 from downtown (Jan. 23 vs. Houston: 5-of-5; Jan. 25 at Dallas; 4-of-6). Love connected on a career-best 88 3-pointers a season ago while shooting 41.7 percent from beyond the arc - 14th-best in the league.

Coming into tonight's game vs. Charlotte Love ranks first in the NBA in double-doubles (25), minutes (39.6 mpg), second in rebounds (13.9 rpg) and free-throws made (202), and fourth in scoring, averaging a career-high 25.3 points per game. Love has recorded two 30-point/20-rebound games among a league-leading nine 30-point/10-rebound games this season; no other player has more than five such games. He has notched 21 20-point/10-rebound games this season -- nine more than the next highest total (Dwight Howard - 12).

Love scored a season-high 39 points and added 12 rebounds vs. Houston on Jan. 23. He sank the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired in the Wolves' 101-98 win at the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 20. Love started the season with eight-straight games of 20+ points and 12+ rebounds, the longest streak to start a season in the NBA since Kareem Adbul-Jabbar’s 10 consecutive to start the 1975-76 season.

The players will compete in the two-round competition with the top three finishers from the first round advancing to the finals. Five shooting stations will be set up around the 3-point line, with four Official Spalding NBA game balls worth one point each and one Spalding NBA All-Star 2012 commemorative red, white and blue "money ball" worth two points at each location. Each player will have one minute to shoot as many balls as he can. In the final round, players will shoot in ascending order of first-round scores. At the discretion of the referee, television instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance.

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