Are Allen Iverson's thumbs sore? Yes. Would he probably prefer to skip Saturday night's All-Star three-point shooting contest and concentrate on his All-Star Game debut Sunday? Yes.

But will the 76ers' star shooting guard be there Saturday night, firing triples off the rack?

Thumbs up, so to speak.

"Yeah," Iverson said before dropping 41 points on the New Jersey Nets in last night's bizarre, 92-90 victory, their final game before the break. "I'm going to do it because I was asked to do it, regardless of my condition."

It's nice to be needed. It is believed league officials implored Iverson to remain involved Saturday night because of his burgeoning popularity and the fact that NBA ratings have dropped on both NBC and the Turner Network.

Iverson was the third-leading vote-getter in the fans' All-Star balloting and the leader among guards in the East. He will be one of nine players making their debut, one of seven on the East roster.

He had been contemplating dropping out of the three-point competition because both thumbs have been bothering him. He missed 10 games after fracturing the right one, and broke the left one in high school.

"Right now, the left one is bothering me more," he said. "My hands get hit a lot when I'm running through the lane, when I don't expect contact. It seems like when you have an injury, that's when you get hit on it more than anything."

He'll be in Oakland launching treys with defending champion Jeff Hornacek, Mike Bibby, Hubert Davis, Dirk Nowitzki, Terry Porter and Bob Sura. But more importantly, he'll be in the East's starting backcourt with former Temple star Eddie Jones.

At the point.

"I want to run the show," Iverson said. "Eric Snow gets to run the show here. I don't mind. I want to have fun, show people I can play the point. And I can play it."

After winning last season's scoring championship, earning first-team All-NBA recognition, finishing fourth in the balloting for Most Valuable Player, Iverson's first All-Star appearance is the next logical step in his progression.

"I just want to run up and down the court, bring my whole playground game out, throw a lot of lobs, show them it's a real All-Star Game," Iverson said.

If you get the idea he's eager, you get the idea.

"I'm looking forward to it because it's something I always wanted to do," he said. "Just to be in that environment, to be in the same city, to know I'm finally there."

That was the way he felt last season when he was named first team All-NBA. But when Sports Illustrated offered its first team at the All-Star break, the magazine selected Gary Payton and Michael Finley as its backcourt, placing Iverson and Jason Kidd on the second team.

"That doesn't mean anything," Iverson said. "The one at the end of the year is the only one that counts."