Life ends at 40 for MJ

Michael Jordan turned 40 last Feb. 17 and won’t be playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs this season. If life is supposed to begin at 40, Jordan is an exception to the rule because it’s like a death experience to fade away from the NBA with his goal of leading the Washington Wizards to the playoffs going up in smoke.

There are still three games left in the Wizards’ schedule but the results won’t make a difference. Washington is out of the playoffs for good as Milwaukee clinched the eighth Eastern Conference slot via a 105-103 win over Toronto last Friday. Jordan will leave the game on a sad note. He would’ve relished the memory of taking the Wizards to the playoffs in his final season but it wasn’t meant to be.

Washington’s record of futility now extends to six straight years without advancing to the playoffs. The team has qualified only once in the last 15 seasons and in that appearance, Washington was blanked in three straight in the first round by the Chicago Bulls whose star was Jordan himself.

A consolation for MJ is he’ll retire with his all-time scoring average record intact. He began the season with a career clip of 31.0 which shrunk to 30.2 after the first 67 games. Wilt Chamberlain is second in the list at 30.1. With three games left, Jordan has scored 1,587 points in 79 outings this season to boost his career norm to 30.2. He’s averaging 20.2 points and even if he doesn’t score in his final three contests, his career average will still hold up.

Jordan isn’t the oldest player in the league this year. Utah’s John Stockton is 41 and San Antonio’s Kevin Willis is five months older. But he’s in the history books as the NBA’s most productive senior statesman ever. He’s the only 40-year-old cager to score at least 40 in a game–MJ fired 43 in Washington’s 89-86 win over New Jersey a few weeks back.

Throughout the season, Jordan made it a habit to embarrass much younger players and self-anointed stars who think they’ve bumped him off the spotlight. He hasn’t missed a game all campaign long–a testament to his phenomenal physical condition. It’s a legacy that Jordan leaves behind proudly.

"I guess I’m just a throwback or a retro player in terms of old-school work ethic, focusing on what it takes to play your best every day," said Jordan, quoted by Steve Aschburner of the Star Tribune in Detroit. "This involves eating right and physically preparing myself in the offseason as well as during the course of the season. Plus, when you get older, you tend to think of those things a little bit more than you did when you were young and vibrant and did a lot of things automatically without thought. But I’ve also just been in tune with my body all my career. I’ve listened to it quite often, gotten it in shape. As the younger players understand how important it is to take care of their bodies, perhaps they’ll take a page out of my book."

But it isn’t only physical conditioning that has made Jordan stand out at 40. It’s also the size of his heart. Unfortunately, no player on the Wizards roster has a heart that’s as big.

"I’m 40 years old, playing 45 minutes a game, playing hurt," he said. "These last games mean so much to me that I’m doing to do everything I can to get on the floor so we can win. If that’s not evidence enough for these guys to elevate their games and put some seriousness into what they need to do to win, then they’re not ever going to be able to do it."

Jordan is definitely hanging up his sneakers at the end of this season and will return to his front office job which carries the authority to hire and fire players on the team.

"That was my sole purpose coming back downstairs, to show the guys what it takes to win and obviously this gives me some ammunition and information so that when I go back upstairs, (I’ll know) who’s willing to make sacrifices," Jordan told the Washington Post. "If you’re not willing to make sacrifices, then I don’t want you here."

From Jordan’s tone, it doesn’t look like he plans to leave the Wizards and consider a return to the game when the Charlotte expansion franchise starts playing in 2004-05.

But you can never be sure what’s in Jordan’s mind. He’s retired and unretired so often another comeback wouldn’t be a surprise. There is talk of Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson trying to coax Scottie Pippen out of Portland to join the Lakers next season in a reunion. And if Pippen jumps in, will Jordan be far behind? Imagine a Lakers cast with Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Pippen and Jordan.

Unlike Jordan, life began at 40 for such sports personalities as boxing promoter Don King, jockey Eddie Arcaro and baseball’s Frank Robinson. King was 40 when he finished serving four years in prison and started a career as a boxing promoter. Arcaro, riding Fabius, was 40 when he won a record sixth Preakness. And Robinson was 40 when he broke the color career in becoming the first black manager in the majors.

Regarding the NBA playoffs, it looks like the Lakers–on a six-game winning streak–will end up playing Portland in the first round. The luckless Trail Blazers are on the verge of imploding and won’t be much of a match. Pippen is doubtful because of a knee injury. Bonzi Wells is feuding with coach Mo Cheeks. Rasheed Wallace can’t stand Pippen. And Zach Randolph is fighting teammates at practice.

Bryant is the top candidate for MVP honors. He’s averaging 29.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 41.7 minutes. Last December, the Lakers were 10-18 and didn’t seem like a playoff contender. Now, they’re 48-31 and about to break into the magic four of the Western Conference.

The Lakers are still vulnerable because they rely on Kobe and Shaq too much. But if the Awesome Twosome is healthy, Jackson shouldn’t be worried. The problem is if one of them gets hurt.

In the Lakers’ last six games, they’ve crushed Dallas twice, 100-89 and 108-99, and Sacramento, 117-104. So they’re battle-ready for the playoffs.

If the Lakers wind up either fourth or fifth and survive the first round, their next opponent will be either No. 1 San Antonio or No. 8 Phoenix. The Spurs are now on an 11-game winning streak and own the NBA’s best record. So if the Lakers and Spurs face off in the second round, it’ll be an early duel of title contenders.

Jackson said the Lakers are determined to win four titles in a row. If they make it, Jackson will become the winningest championship coach ever with his 10th title–one more than Red Auerbach’s haul. And no team other than Boston has won more than three straight titles so the Lakers will be in an elite category, overshadowing Jordan’s Bulls.

"This is special, something that comes along once," said Jackson. "If we don’t, we could win next year but it’s not the same. It wouldn’t be four in a row."

The big joke in the Lakers lockerroom is Jackson’s anecdote about his recent kidney stone operation. Jackson said before the stone was removed, the anesthesiologist said he had a name for it. The doctor called the stone Kobe "because it won’t pass."

Bryant had a good laugh when Jackson cracked the joke in the lockerroom. But was Shaq laughing?