All-Star Show Slow Out Of Blocks

2ball was no slam dunk.

The NBA’s attempt at spicing up its All-Star Saturday by shelving the slam dunk contest in favor of a skills competition pairing its stars with players from the WNBA, was boring, unimaginative and somewhat confusing.

Still, Cynthia Cooper and Clyde Drexler consider themselves basketball pioneers.

Cooper, the WNBA’s MVP from the Houston Comets, and Drexler, a 10-time All-Star from the Rockets, defeated Utah’s Tammi Reiss and Karl Malone in the finals of the two-round competition that started off the All-Star festivities.

“This was a pioneering event,” said Drexler. “It was a lot of fun.”

It may have been for the winners, who earned $25,000, but many in the Madison Square Garden crowd seemed unimpressed.

Big Z leads rookies

Zydrunas Ilgauskas has plenty of nicknames: Z, Ziggy, Big Z. Now, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 7-foot-3 center can tell everyone to call him MVP.

Ilgauskas had 18 points and seven rebounds, overshadowing local favorite Keith Van Horn and leading the East to an 85-80 victory in a dunk-filled rookie game on All-Star Saturday night.

$1 million miss

Saul Holcman, from Queens, N.Y., clanged a shot from 3-point range off the rim at the NBA All-Star Weekend’s million-dollar contest.

Holcman became the fourth person to miss the mark since the contest was established four years ago, but came away with a new car and other prizes.

Stern words

The NBA commissioner’s annual All-Star press conference featured a sterner David Stern.

Buffeted with questions on the Latrell Sprewell case, the use of marijuana by players and the possibility of a lockout next summer, the commissioner offered few conciliatory words Saturday night.

Instead, he restated many of his strongest hard-line stances and even chastised NBA teams for placing winning above all else when it comes to disciplining troublesome players.

“I’m not happy with what teams are doing,” Stern said. “As a result, we have stepped in to assert the proposition that there has to be some accountability.”

It was with that kind of thinking in mind that Stern issued a one-year suspension to Sprewell last December for his attack on Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo.

“At the very least, all the players in our league are well on notice about how we’re going to exercise our power,” Stern said.

Stern also offered his opinions on a host of other issues, from the possibility of expansion (none anytime soon), to the changes in Canadian tax laws (not as big a problem as some think), to the chances of a regular-season game being played in Taiwan (zero).

Sprewell speaks

Latrell Sprewell addressed the NBA Players’ Association on Saturday, and officials emerged saying his suspension and contract termination had galvanized the once-troubled union.

Sprewell, who was suspended for one year by the league and had his contract torn up by Golden State after his attack on coach P.J. Carlesimo, has unilateral support from fellow players as he fights the penalties, union director Billy Hunter said.

Mason arrested

Anthony Mason of the Charlotte Hornets was arrested in New York late Saturday on two counts of third-degree rape of two teenage girls.

His lawyer, Frank Rothman, anticipating the arrest all day, insisted his client was innocent. Mason was arrested after 5 hours of questioning by detectives.

“There will be scientific evidence that will vindicate Anthony,” Rothman said.

Mason, 31, and a friend, William Duggins, 24, were each charged with two counts of statutory rape in the attack on two girls, 14 and 15, on Friday night, said Mary DeBourbon, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.

Mason and his friend met the sisters at a charity basketball game at York College in Queens, said the spokeswoman.

The Daily News reported in its Sunday editions that the alleged attack took place in a limousine after the game. The girls told an older sister about the alleged attack, the paper said.