Chapter 484: 482. Jordan's Retirement Declaration
Phillips Arena, All-Star Night.
This year's All-Star Weekend was different.
The Eagles invited the now popular female singer, 18-year-old Ciara Prince-Harris, who became popular in the United States last year with the song "Love at First Sight" and became the sexiest singer, actor and model in the United States. People, but she grew up in Georgia most of her life, and Atlanta can be said to be her home base.
After Harris sang the national anthem, there were no fancy performances like other All-Star Weekends. The regular performances of this year's All-Star Weekend were all performed before the rookie game and the comprehensive event day in the previous two days.
After Harris sang the perfect Empire song, the staff came to the center of the field and set up a small stage.
After the stage was set up, the staff evacuated.
First of all, the East and West All-Star appearances!
The first introduction is the five All-Star starters in the West.
The two No. 21 forwards played first, then Yao Ming, and the penultimate one was Francis. Kobe finally entered the field as the "first man" for the first time.
Then the five All-Stars in the Eastern Conference started. The two forwards Carter and Tracy McGrady played first, Ratliff followed, and Iverson and Liu Mang entered the game last.
Although the All-Star starter Liu Mang gave up to Jordan, but at the appearance ceremony, Liu Mang was still the last one to enter the East.
After Liu Mang entered the field, Kobe and Kobe sat in the All-Star starters, the middle two on a chair.
Kobe was very happy to enter the field for the first time as the "boss" in the west, but when he saw Liu Mang actually sitting in the position of the "boss" in the east, his face suddenly became gloomy, this kid! It's so irritating!
In just two seasons, he was promoted to this position.
There is a chance to kill this kid in the finals!
If Liu Mang next to him knew that the vicious Kobe was thinking this way, if Brother Blacksmith's dream came true, Liu Mang might thank Brother Blacksmith more.
If you can reach the finals, wouldn't you have surpassed Jason Kidd?
After the starters came on the field, a stinky O'Neal led the West's bench, and then the East's All-Star bench.
After bursts of cheers and screams, it was discovered that one person was missing!
The lights dimmed at this point, and a video clip of Jordan from his draft days began to play on a giant screen above the court.
First, Jordan entered the NBA with the third overall pick, and then came to Atlanta to play for the first time. At that time, the Hawks' home court was still called American Airlines Arena.
The picture after that has nothing to do with the Eagles. Jordan was eliminated by the Pistons in the playoffs for three consecutive years. The score went from 0 to 3 to a 3 to 4 tie-break defeat. Jordan left tears of despair in the Palace of Auburn Hills .
Then in 1991, he made a comeback and swept the Pistons 4-0. It took four years to cross the mountain of the Pistons and reached the finals. The first person in the history of basketball.
Finally came back in 2001, and there are shots of the Eagles at home...
Liu Mang saw Jordan scoring more than 50 points against him in a post-up single, and the three-pointer that killed him. Liu Mang felt that his video editor was an undercover agent sent by Jordan!
So many shots, why cut these two! You don't want to lose face!
But thinking that today is the day when Mr. Qiao delivered his retirement speech, Liu Mang endured it.
Otherwise, what else can I do, beat up the editor? Or a threat of violence?
Then it is estimated that the future video editing... I will always be tragic...
After the tribute video was played, the screen on the big screen switched to the on-site footage, aiming at the player channel.
Jordan appeared in the player tunnel, next to Phil Jackson, a Zen master holding a microphone.
Hearing the tsunami-like cheers at the scene, Zen Master picked up the microphone and said, "Are-you-ready?"
Jordan tilted his head, just like his habitual confidence in the past 19 years: "Of course."
Jordan ran from fellow players onto the stage in center court.
At this time the press officer brought the All-Stars around the stage.
Seeing these pictures, Liu Mang knew that Jordan's famous All-Star weekend speech was coming!
After Liu Mang came out, he saw the fans sitting on the sidelines. Except for some players’ family members, most of them were members of Congress, American stars, and some Asian stars. Most of them were celebrities and active players. Players who were not selected as All-Stars.
This All-Star Weekend is the All-Star Weekend with the most famous and active players in NBA history!
Players saw how Jordan was treated during his last All-Star break, and the performances varied.
Liu Mang is okay. Later generations have watched Jordan's final speech many times on video, but they are just looking forward to it. Will it be different from the impression? And what I said to Jordan today, will it happen? look forward to!
Most of the All-Stars looked at Jordan with envious eyes. With this kind of treatment, almost all the famous people who are still alive came to the scene. Even Bill, who will not appear in the game except for the Celtics game and the NBA Finals- Russell is here, this is too much face!
If you want to have such a face, you have to have such a face in Jordan.
However, there is one person who is not envious.
Everyone is applauding and envious, except for a guy who wears No. 8 in the Western All-Star training uniform.
Everyone is blessing and applauding, only Kobe is the most special. Seeing Jordan standing on the stage, Kobe smiles like a 190-pound fat man. The 190-pound fat man is as if he is standing on the stage, as excited as he is, just like a fan.
Jordan enjoyed the cheers and applause for a while, picked up the microphone, and was about to speak.
There was no need to mobilize the scene, and it was quiet.
Jordan, old-fashioned for his age, blew on the mic for a sound check, and then began his speech.
"How should I put it, basketball, thank you.
Thank you so much!
Now it’s time for you, all the people here, my former teammates, my former opponents, competitors, and current opponents, teammates, all the people and things that basketball made me realize and experience, thank you.
I would also like to thank my family for supporting me for so long and supporting me to achieve my dream on the court.
Supporting basketball is not just for all Jordan fans, thank you for your support.
If I stayed away from the NBA completely after retiring in 1998, it would be unfair to the entire NBA, so I am back this time, yes, you see, I am also old, I can’t shoot goals, I can’t fly and dunk up.
But my departure did not make the NBA worse. On the contrary, because of the hard work of our generation, the NBA has become better. I've taken the baton from 'Dr. J' Irving, 'Magic' Johnson, 'Big Bird' Bird and other greats in this sport, and I've passed it on to players in the All-Star game and Other players are on the All-Star field.
I heard that someone has selected my successor, Bryant, Carter, Iverson, McGrady, James, and by the way, Liu.
They are all great, just as you think, and I also think they will be the ones who can take over the torch in my hand. Of course, there are powerful opponents like Duncan and O'Neal in front of them.
The NBA is great right now, everything is great, and I can leave with no regrets.
I am very grateful to everyone who has supported me all the time. Now that this year is over, I can go home and enjoy the peace brought by the basketball game
Thank you so much.
Originally, I planned to wait until the end of this season before announcing my retirement.
However, I don’t want to continue anymore. The NBA doesn’t need me anymore. I shouldn’t be here at my age. I don’t want anyone to let me, like this All-Star starter. Ace, if he hadn't given me the starting lineup, I probably wouldn't be on this stage.
Therefore, I will not play in the next regular season, everything should be over, the current NBA is the era of young people, it is time for me to leave.
Now, Jordan-out. "