Well, it wasn't very pretty, but what can you expect when the two teams have each played only one game together?

And, much more important, the game was played, as were two others this momentous Friday night, and the American Basketball League is officially under way.

For the record, I watched San Jose slip past preseason favorite Atlanta before a sold-out house of 4,550 at San Jose State, and after an interminable opening ceremony, the game finally got started around 8 p.m. Even then, it took a while to get going.

Atlanta, as a matter of fact, never did really put things together until a late fourth quarter run that brought the Glory to within three. Up to that point, though, Trish Roberts' team couldn't pass, didn't block out, ran no discernable offense and found the concept of getting back on defense completely foreign. Oh, and the Glory didn't get any calls and must have missed five shots within two feet of the basket.

All that said, San Jose could never quite toss the final shovelful of dirt on the coffin, despite the spectacular efforts of Sheri Sam -- who, for the record, used Olympian Teresa Edwards like last week's dishrag all night long and finished with 35 points. Of course it helped that Edwards didn't bother to screen her off, allowing Sam to rebound her own misses for easy putbacks.

In fact, Edwards hardly played like the Olympic superstar she is. She pouted, complained, shot poorly and threw the ball away -- and then almost singlehandedly pulled the game out in the closing moments. But fittingly, she had the ball in the open court with a chance to tie and took an ill-advised trip to the basket that resulted in a turnover and the end of a valiant Glory comeback.

Atlanta also turned in the most spectacular plays, as young guns Saudia Roundtree and Niesa Johnson made improbable shots with practiced ease. Of course, they also missed a bunch, but that had a lot to do with the Lasers' sticky defense, which challenged the quicker Glory well beyond the three-point line.

And San Jose was steady, steady, steady. The Lasers pounded the boards, pulled off back-door pass after back-door pass and ran Jan Lowery's motion offense considerably better than one would expect from a team that had only played together for 40 minutes before this game.

Anita Kaplan and Val Whiting made life miserable for the Atlanta posts, and it took a monumental effort for the Glory to get a rebound. But when Atlanta did, and got into the open floor, there were flashes of the brilliance that most expected from the Eastern Conference favorite. (Of course, the other Eastern favorite is Richmond, which got thumped 100-73 by New England.)

The fact that San Jose cannot do much damage from outside unless Jennifer Azzi or Sam can spot up for a three will be a continuing problem for the Lasers, who should have been up by 30 considering how much better they played the game than Atlanta. Still, a win's a win, and the packed house went home happy.

And much more important than the ragged play, the ABL showed itself to be a real league, with bad calls, bad organ music and bad food just like every other professional operation.

Oh yes -- it's a whole lot of fun too.

10/18/96