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NBA

One last gasp of Air

Michael Jordan starts his final All-Star Game, thanks to Vince Carter, and almost ends it with another memorable shot.

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 10, 2003

ATLANTA -- On a night for Michael Jordan, all he was missing was the winning shot.

Jordan said goodbye to the All-Star Game with his eyes teary and his game a bit blemished as the West beat the East 155-145 in double overtime Sunday night.

A last-minute starter after Vince Carter relinquished his spot, Jordan had a poor start, a bad finish and then nearly a great one. After clanging the potential winning shot off the rim at the end of regulation, Jordan made a high-arching 15-footer with 4.8 seconds left in overtime to give the East a two-point lead.

Kobe Bryant tied it, however, by making two free throws with one second left, and Jordan's final shot of the first overtime was blocked just before the buzzer.

MVP Kevin Garnett scored nine of his 37 points in the second overtime as Jordan watched the final five minutes from the bench. It was the first double-overtime game in All-Star history.

Although Jordan missed his first seven shots, had four others rejected and blew a dunk, he scored 20 to move past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most points in All-Star history. But he needed 27 shots -- making only nine -- to do it.

His most memorable moment came late in the first overtime, while the most poignant one came at halftime. Jordan joined singer Mariah Carey at center court, took the microphone after an extended ovation and bid a public farewell as Yao Ming, Kobe Bryant and basketball's future stood and watched.

"I leave the game in good hands," Jordan said. "So many great stars rising and playing. I have passed on the things that Dr. J and some of the great players -- Magic Johnson, Larry Bird -- have passed on to me. I pass on to these All-Stars here, as well as to the rest of the players in the NBA.

"I want to thank you all for your support. Now I can go home and feel at peace with the game of basketball."

The entire evening played out as though it was a Jordan tribute.

Allen Iverson arrived at the arena wearing a retro Bulls No. 23 jersey. Yao donned a pair of powder blue low-tops, a tribute to Jordan's alma mater, North Carolina, which clashed garishly with his bright red Western Conference uniform.

Carey wore a Bulls jersey and a Wizards uniform top during a halftime show dedicated to Jordan. Several players wore Air Jordan shoes, and all of them stood in a pack to applaud and hug Jordan after his halftime speech.

"I'm somewhat embarrassed because I got a feeling it's going to turn into the Michael Jordan Show, which I don't want it to be," he said before the game.

In the end, of course, it was.

Jordan's go-ahead shot over a leaping Shawn Marion late in the first overtime was a thing of beauty: a perfectly rotating, high-floating jumper that looked true from the moment it left his fingertips.

After hitting the shot, he drifted into a row of photographers and pumped his fist, getting a chest bump from Iverson as he went to the bench.

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