Imagine you're a huge Julia Roberts fan, and you've just paid $6 to see her latest movie, and 30 seconds into the film she's gunned down.
That's essentially what happened Wednesday night at the Marriott Center, when former BYU star Shawn Bradley injured his surgically repaired left knee less than a minute into an NBA exhibition game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves that had been billed as "Shawn's Return."The Sixers still managed to hold off the T-Wolves, 105-98, but then, just about everyone else manages to hold off the T-Wolves, too.
And it's not as if anyone not connected to the teams cared about the final score. Most of the crowd of 10,000-plus had come to see the 7-foot-6 guy, and a sizable number chose to leave at halftime when it became apparent that Bradley wasn't returning.
Bradley did look good for the 20-some seconds he remained upright. He won the opening tip, and on Philly's first possession he made his lone statistical contribution - an assist to Clarence Weatherspoon.
On the other end of the court, Minnesota's Doug West drove the left side and scooped a high shot, which Bradley tried to swat. When Bradley returned to earth, he landed on West's foot, wrenching his knee.
Despite the bad leg, Bradley did a nifty job of dancing out of reporters' reach after the game, leaving his mother to inform the assembled media that the injury - to the same knee that caused him to miss most of last season - isn't as bad as last time but may keep him out six to eight weeks. The knee will undergo further evaluation in Los Angeles today.
"It was a devastating blow to our team," said Sixers coach John Lucas.
Lucas said that Scott Williams would start at center in Bradley's absence, then added, "If you know of some centers out there, please let me know."
As for the game, it was pretty much a scoring duel between Minnesota's Christian Laettner and Philly's Weatherspoon. The difference was that Weatherspoon scored nine points in the final five minutes, while Laettner scored for the last time with 6:20 left.
Weatherspoon finished with 26 points; Laettner had 28.
Former Utah Jazz center Mike Brown totaled four points and three rebounds in 20 minutes for the Timberwolves. Ex-Jazz guard Jeff Malone hit four of 12 shots for 13 points in 25 minutes for Philadelphia. Minnesota's Askia Jones, a rookie guard who was on the Jazz's Rocky Mountain Revue team, missed all six of his shots from the field.
The win was the Sixers' first after three losses. The T-Wolves slipped to 1-2.
In a warm-up game pitting former BYU players against former Utah players, Jeff Judkins scored 19 to lead the Utes to a 73-67 victory. Pace Mannion scored 17 for Utah, while Keith Chapman added 10.
Fred Roberts led BYU with 22, prompting Lucas to say, "I think Fred Roberts can still play. I may have to talk to him."