After returning to Washington, D.C. from University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the Wizards Team got a day off, then they needed to prepare for a preseason game at their home court.
Normally, the NBA would place preseason games in cities with a more commercial atmosphere, but after 9/11, some believed that the NBA's wealthy had an obligation to remind Americans that their country was still great.
In fact, Yu Fei considered this to be American formalism.
It was meaningless, because NBA news was difficult to find on television or in mainstream news, even Jordan's comeback was just causing some ripples.
Although it was all merely for form's sake, the Wizards still marketed it as "The Hero's Return."
The Wizards were set to welcome their first preseason opponent at their home court, the MCI Center—henceforth abbreviated as MCI—the Phoenix Suns.
Just before the Wizards' players entered the locker room, a uniformed police officer led a German Shepherd inside first.