ALL-STAR NOTEBOOK \ From Houston

Dunk controversy: Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Allen Iverson is upset. He thinks his 76ers teammate Andre Iguodala should have won Saturday's dunk contest. The 6-foot-6 Iguodala lost to 5-9 Nate Robinson by one point in a dunk-off. Robinson didn't complete his last dunk until the 14th try. Iverson contends that the judges purposely forced the contest to a tiebreaker to extend the fun for fans. "It's still not sitting right with me," he said Sunday. "Just because he's a young guy and that's something that he wanted for himself, for his family, for his people in Philadelphia and for it not to happen it was bad. And the way it happened, I think he deserved to win." Others were upset that Robinson was allowed so many chances to complete his dunk. But Kenny Smith, one of the judges of the event, said he only cared about dunks that were completed. He discounted attempts, so didn't penalize Robinson for needing so many tries before getting his title-winning dunk down. "The final dunk, Nate Robinson's dunk was better," he said. Commissioner David Stern said the league always looks at ways to improve All-Star Saturday night, but thinks "the right rule is not to penalize them."
Butterflies: Boston's Paul Pierce is an All-Star game veteran, but he still battles nerves. "I'm nervous every time. Just the hype around it, the celebrities sitting courtside, you can't help it," he said. Pierce has warm memories of his All-Star debut in 2002 in Philadelphia. "I was sitting next to Michael Jordan on the bench and he said, 'I bet you miss your first three shots.' " Sure enough, Pierce bricked a five-footer. "Almost air-balled it," he said with a laugh.
Better late than never: As the third pick in the 1997 NBA draft, Chauncey Billups might have expected to be an All-Star much earlier in his career. Instead, he was making his first appearance in the game Sunday night. But he wasn't sure if having his success come late after a slow start to his career made the trip to Houston any more meaningful. "This is my first time, so I don't know how I would have felt if I made it four years ago as opposed to now," Billups said. "But the road I traveled was much tougher than a lot of these guys to make it to this game. It's special to me either way. It's a special weekend." Drafted by Boston in 1997, Billups had already played for the Celtics, Toronto, Denver and Minnesota before he went to Detroit in 2002. He has since become one of the NBA's top point guards. He averaged more than 16 points in his first three seasons with the Pistons and is scoring a career-high 18.9 per game this season for the team with the league's best record. He was the NBA Finals MVP when Detroit won the title in 2004, and nearly two years later he was finally an All-Star. "I feel proud that I was able to make it to this level, either before or after winning the MVP," he said. "Winning the MVP was one of my proud moments after winning that championship. So I'm just blessed and happy to be here."
Associated Press
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