Levingston, Ceballos Help Pros Put on Show : Charity basketball: A tired Pippen among the stars to play in front of about 6,000 at the Sports Arena.

The NBA was in town Thursday night, but not many people seemed to care. It could be that San Diego fans are tired of watching all-star games instead of real games, or that people wanted to see more “Dream Team” members than the Chicago Bulls’ Scottie Pippen.

For whatever reason, only about 6,000 people watched the Black defeat the Gold, 150-140, in the fifth San Diego County All-Star Basketball Classic at the Sports Arena.

The charity game didn’t have the intensity level a U.S. Olympic game, but for competitiveness and entertainment value, it beat watching the “Dream Team” annihilate Angola.

The play was a little loose and ragged, but the players were sharper and in better shape than might be expected for a summer all-star game.

This game was about slam dunks, flashy passes, blocked shots and three-pointers. It wasn’t about defense, crisp passing or team play.

The highlights:

Kenny Smith’s hanging reverse cradle slam. Cedric Ceballos’ in-your-face dunk over 7-foot-4 Mark Eaton. The Phoenix Gorilla’s sideways slam off a trampoline. Game chairman Cliff Levingston’s three three-pointers. Ron Harper’s rejection of Ron Anderson’s sure lay up. An NBA referee actually calling traveling twice in one night.

The lowlights:

Byron Scott’s three airballs. Levingston’s game-opening three-point attempt that clanked off the backboard. The repeated scene of nine players standing in the lane watching the guy with ball dribble. Spud Webb walking around in street clothes with a putter apparently trying to imitate Chi Chi Rodriquez.

Levingston, who played for the losing Gold team, scored a game-high 25 points. Ceballos led the Black team with 24 points.

For the second consecutive year, there were no significant no-shows. Philadelphia forward Armon Gilliam was the only introduced player who failed to appear. Two years ago, Michael Jordan and Dominque Wilkins were late no-shows.

Pippen, whose last game was a member of the U.S. Olympic team, is trying to get excited about the opening of NBA camps in three weeks. But after an almost 10 consecutive months of basketball, Pippen is burned out.

“I haven’t played since the Olympics,” he said. “I’m just trying to rest up for the season.”

The mental and physical strain of this summer has Pippen wondering whether he would play in the 1996 Olympic in Atlanta.

“I doubt it,” he said. “It’s been a long season and a long, tough summer. This will definitely make me think twice about 1996.”

If it was up to Atlanta Hawks forward Kevin Willis, Pippen wouldn’t get the chance to play in 1996.

“It was good for publicity and all that,” said Willis, the NBA’s leading rebounder last year. “But what (the Dream Team) did was expected. It wasn’t exciting.

“It was good to see (Larry) Bird and Magic (Johnson) play together, but I think this will be the last time you’ll see something like that. I think the opportunity will go back to the college players.”

New Jersey center Chris Dudley, who graduated from Torrey Pines High, said he’d rather the college players didn’t play.

“I had no problem with it,” Dudley said. “The other countries have their pros playing. So we might as well have our best out there.”

Pippen tried to be diplomatic about the future of NBA players participating in the Olympics.

“I think they’ll play in 1996 because the games are in the U.S., but after that I think they’d go back to the college players.”