HILADELPHIA - It finally hit him yesterday. He was there. He was among the best in the world and, in Paul Pierce's mind, he not only deserved to be there, he felt that this should be the start of an annual thing.

For the last two weeks, Pierce had been feigning excitement over his selection to the Eastern Conference team for tonight's All-Star Game. But he had to wait until he went onto the First Union Center floor yesterday afternoon to practice with the team to really feel it. He was there, with Jason Kidd, Allen