NBA'S STARS DON'T SHINE\Shaq powers East in snoozer\EAST 129, WEST 118.

Byline: Marc Stein Daily News Staff Writer

It's the most impersonal building in basketball. Naturally, the game had no feeling either.

Emotion, like everything else, is easily lost in the cavernous Alamodome.

Boos for the MVP voting accounted for the only noticeable crowd reaction during Sunday's 46th All-Star Game, a snoozy affair that is billed annually as the fans' game but this year merely served to make them mad.

"We weren't doing anything," said Seattle's Gary Payton, whose West side lost 129-118 to an East team led by Shaquille O'Neal's 25 points and 10 rebounds . . . and a 20-point effort that somehow earned Michael Jordan the MVP trophy.

"We're the West Coast team and they wanted to get all hyped up, but we didn't give them anything to cheer for."

Neither the West nor the MVP judges produced the outcome craved by the locals, a gathering of 36,037 expecting it to be David Robinson's day.

When Robinson's 18 points and 11 rebounds off the bench proved insufficient, the people were prepared to accept Orlando's O'Neal, a San Antonio high school legend, as a stand-in hero.

Then the results of the voting were announced, with Jordan, who sat out the entire fourth quarter, edging O'Neal 4-3. It was Jordan's first All-Star appearance since 1993 - and the first time in memory, anyone's memory, that the Chicago legend was jeered.

"I don't have anything to do with it," said Jordan, rested by East and Bulls coach Phil Jackson throughout the final period, when the West twice sliced a 22-point deficit to eight.

"I was shocked when I won. I felt kind of strange standing out there with the MVP trophy and the crowd making their own selections with the way they responded. . . . Shaq could have easily been chosen MVP and probably deserves it. If it's going to make him mad for the second half, I might give him the trophy."

O'Neal dressed quickly and bolted before Jordan had the opportunity. Asked if he was upset, or at least disappointed by the balloting, Shaq said, "No, never," before exiting the massive convention hall.

Until the game's final minute and that post-game shower of boos, the midseason showcase was totally devoid of drama and controversy.

None of the many pregame subjects of interest - Jordan's return to the All-Star stage, Jordan partnering Detroit's Grant Hill, the hometown duo of Robinson and Sean Elliott, newcomers like Cleveland's Terrell Brandon and Charlotte's Glen Rice - added to the fiesta-like feel of the weekend.

Elliott, Robinson and Jordan got standing ovations during introductions. The Lakers' Magic Johnson, watching from courtside, got one during a fourth-quarter timeout when highlights of his MVP performance in 1992 flashed across the message board.

And that was it, until O'Neal thundered down the lane and rose above Robinson's outstretched arms to throw down a monster dunk over the All-Star host.

It came with 40.6 seconds remaining, pushed the East's lead to 125-113 and seemingly secured O'Neal's MVP coronation.

Most players thought so anyway. Virtually every participant suggested later that O'Neal was the difference. During a pivotal 19-6 run in the third that essentially decided it, Jordan scored eight points and O'Neal had nine.

In the fourth - with Jordan and Jackson agreeing that rest was best even as the West clawed within 111-103 - Orlando's Penny Hardaway (18 points, seven assists) hit back-to-back 3-pointers before O'Neal's embarrassment of Robinson.

"I had put that out of my mind already and you had to bring it back up," Robinson joked. ". . . When you're up and you know you're going to win the game, that's what you do."

Phoenix's Charles Barkley added: "I don't know what David was thinking. He kind of lost his mind for a minute."

Not that Robinson could be blamed. Even for an All-Star Game, the intensity level was unusually low, robbing The Admiral of his homecourt advantage.

Barkley, even, was reserved, way too quiet in comparison to typical Chuckster standards. Plagued by the flu, he started but played just 16 minutes, and could barely croak out answers during the interview session.

"I just didn't feel well, and I'm glad it's over," Barkley said. "It was a weird game."

Chicago's Scottie Pippen echoed that, saying: "It didn't seem that there was as much enthusiasm as we've seen in past games."

That's what happens when you put All-Star hoops in a football stadium.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

(1--color) Shaquille O'Neal, left, wasn't happy when Michael Jordan was named All-Star Game MVP. (2) Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls grabs a rebound from Shawn Kemp of Seattle as Michael Jordan looks on. Associated Press