Stars Pack Garden for Michael Jordan

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/31/2001 at 05:12 PM EST

Michael Jordan was reintroduced to the National Basketball Association Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, when his team, the Washington Wizards, opened their season against the New York Knicks. As Jordan smiled and chewed gum, according to The Washington Post, he was introduced to the crowd as "a guard, from North Carolina, No. 23, Michael Jordan." Even the New Yorkers cheered. Gone from the NBA since he took the Chicago Bulls to their sixth NBA title in 1998, Jordan, who left the Wizards home office for the front office of the court, drew a celebrity crowd. It included Spike Lee, Billy Crystal, Michael Keaton, John McEnroe, Kevin Bacon, Lorraine Bracco, New York Gov. George Pataki, Harry Connick Jr. and Bradford Marsalis (the latter two performed "God Bless America," while NYPD officers Ann Marie Moloney and Carl Dixon delivered "The Star-Spangled Banner"). His Airness scored only 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting. He missed a crucial 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds, and the Knicks won, 93-91. In other New York sports news, the Yankees finally won a World Series game against the Arizona Diamondbacks (who lead the series two games to one), 2-1 in a game played at Yankee Stadium. President Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch (a perfect strike), the first such time that any chief executive has ever shown up at a Series game in New York . . . though he didn't stay for the entire game.