Wossa are you going to go to Horntes game

if so Booo them every time they have the ball let then now who every NBA fan in NC and SC feel about this team

 

fuck no

 

Jordan is the only reason I'd go to the game and that's how they attempted to market it up here too, quite heavilt in the fish wrap and on the radio I might add. And it hasn't worked. There will be some disappointed basketball fans tonight "in the big Barn on Lee Street."

MJ won't play tonight; Haywood, Stackhouse will
By Rob Daniels, Greensboro News & Record Staff Writer

GREENSBORO -- If you care only about watching one guy and you believe the hype -- "last chance to see Michael Jordan in action," as the Greensboro Coliseum's Web site puts it -- you will be in for a disappointing evening tonight.

When his Washington Wizards face the New Orleans Hornets at 7:30, Jordan will Air-mail it in, adhering to his stated plan of resting a surgically repaired knee by watching exhibition games while dressed in street clothes. (OK, boardroom clothes.) Asked after Friday afternoon's practice if he could be talked into his first competition of the preseason, Jordan said, "No."

Jordan has taken it easy, but the coliseum will be OK. Scott Johnson, director of booking and event services, said he is very pleased that more than 10,000 tickets had been sold as of Friday. "We didn't expect it to sell out," Johnson said.

The Wizards and Denver Nuggets drew a near-capacity crowd of 9,187 to Fayetteville's Crown Coliseum on Tuesday.

Of course, Jordan is not the only drawing card. Dudley High School graduate Brendan Haywood will play his first game in his hometown since his days at North Carolina. Other ACC alumni on the Washington roster are UNC's Jerry Stackhouse, Duke's Christian Laettner, Clemson's Chris Whitney and Maryland's Juan Dixon.

Haywood said he'll have 20 to 30 friends and family on hand tonight.

"I'm treating these preseason games like regular-season games because, as a young player, I have to learn more every time I play," said Haywood, who has played about 20 minutes a game in the preseason.

Haywood owns a home on Lake Jeanette, but is staying at the team hotel.

"The last thing I want to be," he said, "is late for something in my hometown."

The Hornets, who flew the hive in Charlotte this past summer, have largely the same team that made the second round of the 2002 playoffs. Among former ACC guys, they boast Courtney Alexander (Virginia), Elden Campbell (Clemson), George Lynch (Carolina) and Terrell McIntyre (Clemson).

The coliseum has been a memorable place for several of the ACC alumni. Jordan delivered his college career high on Lee Street when he lit up Georgia Tech for 39 points on Jan. 29, 1983 -- before the 1994 renovations that took the basketball capacity over 21,000. Stackhouse had one of his most celebrated dunks, a down-the-lane power slam against Virginia Tech on Jan. 21, 1995. And so on.

"Things have changed here," Jordan said. "It's 20,000 (seats) now. But the people have always been supportive. I have great memories here -- ACC Tournaments, NCAA tournaments."

Jordan, 39, is entering the second season of his second NBA comeback tour and has said he won't have to play 40 minutes a game to get the Wizards, 37-45 last season, to the playoffs. So he's got another reason to chill out.

"I'm going to be a complement to what's happening on the court," he said. "I'm not the future. I'm more or less the now."

 

The Washington Wizards Michael Jordan watched his teammates play in preseason game number 5 against the New Orleans Hornets at the Greensboro Coliseum. (Kepley/©News & Record)

Coliseum rocks, even minus Jordan
By Margaret Moffett Banks, Staff Writer, Greensboro News & Record

GREENSBORO -- Tyrone Kilgo had this theory he was sharing Saturday night, as he parked cars across from the Greensboro Coliseum.

It went something like this: Michael Jordan really, truly planned on playing in the NBA exhibition game between the Washington Wizards and the New Orleans Hornets. Not too hard, mind you. Kilgo figured Jordan would play for three minutes, five tops.

He'd slip in, then work his magic long enough to make the crowd go wild.

Sorry, Tyrone. Jordan was "suited up" on the bench, all right, but in a tasteful black suit and turtleneck instead of his famed 23 jersey.

What was billed as the last chance for local folks to see "Michael Jordan in action" turned out only to be true only if one defines "action" as looking straight off the cover of GQ magazine.

The Wizards could have used some of Jordan's last-minute theatrics in their 99-92 loss to the Hornets, late of Charlotte. Instead, Jordan sat out the game to rest his 39-year-old knees, which surgeons recently fixed.

Jordan's absence disappointed fans, but it didn't ruin their evening, which cost them anywhere from $10 to $50 a ticket. They had a hometown hero in the house: Dudley High School graduate Brendan Haywood, looking a good deal slimmer than he did when he finished his career at UNC in 2001.

Ashanti Sebastien, a classmate of Haywood's from UNC, said playing center in the NBA is much more rigorous than college ball, which explains why her fellow Tar Heel is looking leaner these days. "He's quicker than he was in school," said Sebastien, 23.

Leaner -- yes. But what about meaner? During his college days, folks said Haywood needed to play more aggressively, to make that 7-foot, 268-pound frame count for something.

Message received.

Not five minutes after Haywood accepted a plaque at half-time from city leaders -- celebrating the "wonderful memories" he'd made for Greensboro basketball fans over the years -- Haywood was handed a technical for being too, um, aggressive.

Haywood or not, Jordan was still the buzz of the coliseum. People stood as close to Jordan as they could, aiming their digital cameras for his legendary bald head. They shouted his name, screamed for his autograph, held up homemade signs bearing his number.

Ten-year-old Jesse Finney and his folks drove in from Danville, Va., for the game -- his first pro basketball game ever. He really wanted to watch Jordan, who already had won an NCAA championship and two NBA titles before Jesse was even born. Jesse strained to get a good look at Jordan on the Wizards' bench.

Amanda Stewart and Nora Smith had different plans: staking out the old man and getting his autograph.

Why not? They figure his three children must be celebrities.

"He has the richest kids," said Amanda, a 12-year-old from North Davie Middle School.

"Yeah," said Nora, a classmate who also is 12. "Do you know he could, like, buy all the Abercrombie stores in the world?"

 

its funny- Greensboro drew 2000 more fans than the franchise home opener in New Orleans.