Saturday's game

["A. M. Noonan" <anoonan@deady.com>]

The Celtics came to Richmond, and it was a thrill to see them play. 
Pre-season basketball is never as sharp and disciplined as the real
thing, and certainly this Celtics team and the Wizards are not playing
the world's best basketball, but it was still a treat to see NBA ball
played here.  Stith received the loudest applause of the night when he
was introduced, and was appplauded again with every play he made
thoughout the game.  He grew up not far from here and, of course, played
his college ball 70 miles up the road at UVA.  College basketball is
more popular than professional basketball here and, in spite of the
proximity to Washington, DC, not a hotbed of Wizards fans so the crowd
was not particularly partisan.  The game was definitely not exciting in
spite of going into overtime.  The Wizards' best players were off their
game except maybe for Jihidi White who is, let's just say, a big, strong
player.  Walker played pretty well as did Anderson, but Paul Pierce was
remarkable!  He played hard, challenged other players, including White,
had a pretty good overall game, seemed to be having fun with it, but
every time he landed on the floor --- at least five times in the second
half alone --- it made me hurt.  He seems to be fully recovered. Pitino
was active and loud on the side lines.  Sunday's paper reported that Red
was in the house, but I didn't see him.  Richmond fans were holding out
hope that Michael Jordon would show up, but no such luck. Between the
tight foul calls and the quick rotations of preseason play, it was hard
to get a feel for how well the team will jell, but everyone appeared to
be in playing shape, and they seemed to play with heart.  Maybe this
will be a better year than the last few.

Aimee