Yao Ming catches the attention of dealers at the Palms.

Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs called off a helicopter stunt that would have involved him being lowered to an open-air nightclub atop the 40-story Palms Fantasy Tower.

Red Bull organizers planned to have Combs rappel from the hovering chopper into Moon nightclub about 9 p.m. Saturday, but he changed his mind.

The company line is that Diddy's attorneys had legal issues with the caper, but it's simpler than that: He's afraid of heights.

Combs is staying in the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa at the Palms.

NATE'S BUNNY HOP NIXED

The NBA's defending slam-dunk champion, Nate Robinson, had another trick up his sleeve for Saturday's slam-dunk event at Thomas & Mack Center.

The 5-foot-7 New York Knicks star was at Western High School's gym Friday practicing a routine that had him leap over a Playboy Bunny dealer who was seated at a blackjack table inside the foul lane.

Robinson won the title last year by leaping over NBA legend Spud Webb from near the free-throw line. Webb won the 1986 slam-dunk title.

However, this year's Bunny hop got nixed by the Knicks, for safety reasons.

A group of baseball players from Western who watched the practice came away with the story of a lifetime.

YAO!

This might not be the best time to take human silo Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets' 7-foot-6 All-Star center, to Wing Lei, the opulent Chinese restaurant at Wynn Las Vegas.

Chinese New Year kicks off today, with Wing Lei offering a three-tiered menu that starts at $198, jumps to $388 for the midrange option and tops out at $988.

Chef Richard Chen went over his shopping list with me: dried Japanese abalone, $2,226 a pound; bird's nest for bird's nest soup, $1,600 a pound (an ounce of bird's nest goes into a bowl of bird's nest soup, which fetches $90); and spotted grouper from Southeast Asia sells for $225 on the menu.

Chen said it's not unusual for a large Chinese family to spend $20,000 to $30,000 on a dinner. With fine wine, he's seen dinner checks soar to $50,000.

NBA FEVER!

Dealers at the Palms are accustomed to seeing celebrities flock through the property.

It's no big deal.

But the sight of the towering basketball star Yao strolling through the casino on Friday during media day was too much.

"We had dealers drop their cards and leave their tables to go over and see Yao when he walked through," said Gavin Maloof, co-owner of the Sacramento Kings. The Maloof family owns the Palms.

"We probably lost two or three thousand dollars."

GRIN AND BARE IT

Celebrity hair colorist Michael Boychuck saw the impulsive (and immodest) side of Anna Nicole Smith in the mid-1990s.

Smith, then the spokesmodel for Guess, came into Jose Eber's salon on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for a blond treatment. Minutes after settling into the chair, Smith told Boychuck and stylist Laurent, "I hope you don't mind, but I'm burning up." The sun-burned Playmate then stood up and disrobed.

Boychuck's job: apply the moisturizer.

Boychuck's most famous blondes include Paris and Nicky Hilton, Britney Spears (who was in Boychuck's Amp salon at the Palms recently for black extensions) and, of course, Dennis Rodman.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

A spy says that when the TNT cameras go live today at the All-Star Game, Siegfried and Roy will kick off the broadcast from center court. Wouldn't have been a party without them. ...

Saturday's All-Star Game crowd at Thomas & Mack Center got the first look at "Stomp Out Loud," the new show that opens at Aladdin/Planet Hollywood in April. Overheard during the dance group's appearance: "Is that the Thomas and Macarena?"

SIGHTINGS

Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns along with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, in the Hofbrauhaus beer garden on Friday for the wedding reception of Nowitzki's sister, Silke. The 7-foot German center borrowed a guitar during the party and joined Hofbrauhaus musicians in serenading the bride and groom. They toasted the couple by clinking supersized steins and singing "In Munich Stands a Hofbrauhaus, one, two, three." ... If there is a Santa, he will deliver on this sightings wish list: Yao at Tao and David Hasselhoff at the Hofbrauhaus. For the rest of the sightings, visit normclarke.com.

THE PUNCH LINE

"There were so many candles on Burt's cake, he had to wear a flame-retardant toupee." -- David Letterman on Burt Reynolds' 71st birthday.

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.