January 30, 1984

All-star basketball games are for fun. The players freelance and the coaches use few plays, if any, that might take away from the usually spectacular one-on-one confrontations. But today K. C. Jones didn't follow the usual pattern as the coach of the Eastern Conference all-stars. Jones, the Boston Celtic coach, treated the National Basketball Association's 34th All-Star Game as importantly as a regular-season game, and the result was a 154-145 overtime victory over the West at McNichols Arena.

President Reagan, asserting that his Administration had ''made a new beginning'' but that ''our work is not finished,'' declared tonight that he and Vice President Bush would seek re-election this year. In a five-minute nationally televised speech, Mr. Reagan began by saying that he had come to ''a difficult personal decision'' about whether to seek another term. He spoke briefly of how his Administration had reduced inflation, rebuilt American defenses and restored ''great American values.'' Not until the conclusion did he say that he and Mr. Bush ''would like to have your continued support and cooperation in completing what we began three years ago.'' The Uncertainty Ends Mr. Reagan's announcement ended the trace of uncertainty that had surrounded his intentions for months. He is not expected to face serious opposition for the Republican Presidential nomination. He enters the race just as the contest for the Democratic Presidential nomination is heating up, with former Vice President Walter F. Mondale considered his leading opponent. The announcement was celebrated by the President's supporters, derided by his opponents and prompted promises of a tough campaign from Republicans and Democrats alike. (Page A11.)

Just minutes from the ski lifts and condominiums of Lake Placid, within earshot of snowmobile and automobile, a hundred men and women and a thousand dogs gathered this weekend for one of the ancient rites of winter. A minister, a doctor, a hunting guide and a logger among them, they came from as far away as Belgium and Norway, from as near as Hackettstown, N.J., and Old Forge, N.Y. They are ''mushers,'' and they were here to race dog sleds. ''I know it sounds corny, but there's something about the solitude - having those animals who just want to please you,'' said Dr. Jerry Steingard, a 44- year-old general practitioner who lives in Medford, N.J., and has 40 dogs. ''It's just you and them and the elements. You become a little euphoric.

Major European and American banks are privately urging France to negotiate easier repayment terms for some of its huge foreign debt, now estimated at more than $50 billion, according to banking sources. These bankers, attending a large business conference here, say that repayment of much of the roughly $25 billion that France's ruling Socialists have borrowed abroad over the last three years will start to fall due around 1988 and 1989. To ease this heavy repayments burden, Western banks are encouraging the Government to refinance this debt, spreading payment of principal over a longer time. No firm agreement has been reached, but bankers say that they expect the Government to work out such a plan so that the country has greater economic freedom toward the end of the decade.

A sense of rising alarm about terrorism against Arabs has gripped Israeli political and religious leaders following an attempted attack last week on the holiest Moslem shrine in Jerusalem. Details of the attempt, the latest in a series of attacks on churches and mosques, have emerged over the last few days. The police initially refused to confirm Moslem leaders' assertions about the scope of the assault, which occurred Friday. But they issued a fairly full account today, indicating that Jewish militants may have been trying to plant explosives at the Dome of the Rock and Al Aksa Mosque.