Indiana’s Hollywood All-Star : Pro basketball: Reggie Miller does more than talk a good game these days.

You wouldn’t know it when he brags about having brought something new to the Midwest, as if the basketball public in Indiana has been deprived all these years, and he still wears his sunglasses inside, but Reggie Miller has toned down the act. He now prefers to let his game do the talking, although he still willingly provides additional commentary.

Eastern Conference coaches apparently have been listening. Passed over by fan voting, Miller, of the Indiana Pacers, was selected to his first NBA All-Star team as an alternate. The noise: 24.7 points a game, seventh best in the league.

So there he was Friday, a little awed but comfortable nonetheless during the first gathering of those who will play in Sunday’s game.

“It’s hard for me to imagine I’m an All-Star,” said Miller, who will be in the three-point shooting contest tonight at Miami Arena as well as the game the next afternoon. “There’s so many great guys around here. I can’t believe I’m bumping elbows with them.

“I still believe this is just a big dream for me. As a kid, everyone dreams of being in an All-Star game. Right now, I’m dreaming big time and I don’t want to wake up.”

His used to be strictly California dreamin’. He starred at Riverside Poly High, then and UCLA, where only Lew Alcindor scored more points. Now, there is Indianapolis, which has proven to be as much a cultural transition as the move from college to professional basketball.

Both seem to have been completed, though. The first Indiana Pacer to make the All-Star game since 1977, Miller is regarded as the top player on one of the most promising young teams in the league. A resident of downtown Indianapolis, he is liking that, too.

Just listen.

“I’m a very confident person,” he said. “I don’t talk as much (as in his UCLA days) because in this league you don’t need to talk. Everything has to be backed up. You just have to produce.

“My act has been toned down, but I’m still flashy and I’m still Hollywood. Reggie (Hollywood) Miller--that’s my nickname. I’m still going to be Hollywood. That’s how I am.

“The things I do, they haven’t seen, because Midwesterners are Midwesterners. So I like to bring a little flash.”

A little flash?

“A lot of confidence,” he continued. “A lot of excitement, enthusiasm, hustle. Just something they’re not normally used to, that’s all.”

A minute later, though, Miller was sounding like the president of the chamber of commerce.

“Indiana is much, much, much slower than California, and I love it,” he said. “Coming from L.A., rush hour from 8 to 10 and from 3 to 5 on the freeways. Everything was so congested. Indiana, there’s never any traffic, people are warm and nice. People are warm and nice in California, but you never know. You might run across Sirhan Sirhan the next day in L.A.”

In the next couple of days, Miller has to worry about the lane around the basket more than the fast lane on the 405. Only winners talk there.

“Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Akeem the Dream,” he said, suddenly sounding a bit in awe again. “I mean, all these nicknames. (Sigh) It’s hard.”

“You’ve got a nickname, too,” someone reminds him.

“Hollywood,” Miller says. “But that’s not like Air Jordan. You think of Air Jordan, you’re like, ‘Oh, man, this guy’s flying.’

“I’m going to try to do something spectacular, of course. I’m going to do something I really wouldn’t do in a regular game because it’s the All-Star game. I’m going to try to do something out of the ordinary. I’m not going to do anything regular now. When I shoot threes, I’ll probably be a step farther back than I normally would, just to make the crowd go ‘Oooh’ and ‘Aaah.’ ”

The kind of noise he likes best.

Prodded into being here by the league office, which reportedly threatened to suspend him for skipping the weekend with an injury while continuing to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, Charles Barkley arrived, as usual, with all the subtlety of a runaway bulldozer.

“I’m just here alone,” Barkley said, noting that Friday was his first wedding anniversary. “I’m just looking for anyone who’s got bad legs. We could walk around together.”

He said the groin injury was still sore, but nothing that will keep him out. His vocal cords were working as well as ever. Some observations:

--On the league’s intervention to get him play: “I understand their point of view. I’m not saying they were right, I’m saying we don’t want to look like idiots like some of those guys in the Pro Bowl do.”

--On who will win Sunday: “I think the West will win. Our East team doesn’t have much talent. That’s why they wanted me here.”

Dallas’ Rolando Blackman was selected to replace Karl Malone of Utah on the West roster.

Malone dropped out after twisting an ankle Thursday night.