Michael Jordan sat on the bench in the fourth quarter, smiling and joking with teammates as the sellout crowd chanted, ``We want Mike! ``We want Mike!''
Though he didn't want to go back in, Jordan wouldn't disappoint the fans in the final game of his NBA career.
PHOTO: AP
Jordan pulled off his warmups, received yet another lengthy ovation, went back on the court, and was purposely fouled by Eric Snow. Fittingly, Jordan made his final two shots -- both free throws.
One of the greatest players in NBA history, Jordan then exited for good with 1:44 remaining in the fourth quarter of Washington's 107-87 loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Another standing ovation followed, this one including the coaches and other players. Jordan flashed his familiar wide smile, waved to the crowd and took a seat on the bench one last time.
``It's time to move on,'' Jordan said. ``It's easier to accept that because physically I know it and feel it.''
Jordan finished with 15 points, four rebounds and four assists in 28 minutes -- drawing several adoring ovations from a Philly crowd notorious for its boorish behavior.
The fans did boo, but only when they thought Jordan wasn't coming back into the game. He went to the bench with 4:13 remaining in third quarter, and didn't return until 2:35 remained in the game.
With the Sixers ahead by 21 points in the final 9 1/2 minutes, the chants of ``We want Mike!'' started. The chant grew louder as the period progressed with Jordan remaining seated, and fans ignored the game to stand and stare at the Wizards' bench, wondering why Jordan wasn't playing.
``The game didn't merit me going back in,'' Jordan said. ``Obviously, they wanted to see me make a couple of baskets. That was very, very respectful.''
While the fans implored Jordan to return, Wizards coach Doug Collins pleaded with him.
``He really didn't want to, but I said, 'Michael, please, you got to go out there,''' Collins said.
Jordan's final points almost looked scripted, with Snow fouling him in the backcourt for no apparent reason except to send him to the line.
``Coach (Larry Brown) told me to foul him, get him to the line to get some points and get him out of there,'' Snow said.
After both foul shots went in, the Wizards committed a foul a second later so that Jordan could be removed from the game and receive the proper send-off. In a rare scene, the players on the court turned to Jordan and applauded, too.
The 40-year-old Jordan would have preferred to end his career in the playoffs, but the Wizards never clicked during his two years in Washington and finished 37-45 in both seasons.
But that was merely a footnote on a stirring night in which the basketball public watched one of the greatest athletes in history playing the game one final time.
Jordan finished his career with 32,292 points -- the third-highest total in league history, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. Jordan's career average of 30.12 goes down as the best in NBA history, just ahead of Wilt Chamberlain's 30.07.
``I never, never took the game for granted. I was very true to the game, and the game was very true to me. It was just that simple,'' Jordan said.
Earlier in the game, Jordan showed his age.
There was a play in the first quarter when he looked like the Jordan of old, except for the result. Starting near the foul line, Jordan ducked his shoulder, lowered his head, stuck out his tongue and drove to his right, the ball rolling off his fingers ever so softly as it arched toward the net.
Rather than going in, though, the ball hit the front rim and missed -- one of several of his shots that came up a few centimeters short.
One of the exceptions was Jordan's final shot of the first half -- a one-handed dunk that came after he received a nice pass under the basket from Bobby Simmons.
Jordan hit his first two shots of the third quarter but didn't do much else positive in the period. On an alley-oop pass from Tyronn Lue, the ball hit him in the fingertips and bounced harmlessly away. A lazy cross-court pass was picked off by Aaron McKie, leading to one of Philadelphia's 31 fast-break points. Jordan's final field-goal attempt was a missed layup with 8:13 remaining.
``I'm not embarrassed,'' Jordan said, ``but it's just not ... I've had better feelings in terms of playing a competitive game.''
Allen Iverson scored 35 points as the Sixers got home-court advantage in the playoffs first round.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
RSS