:07:01
lonly will walk away...
:07:04
when I know I do not have
anything else to give.
:07:07
The disappointment
was so deep, like a cut,
:07:10
it struck the fire in me.
:07:12
to make sure that I never endure
that type of pain again.
:07:15
In these condround
of the playoffs...
:07:19
Michael returned home
with a vengeance.
:07:23
Playing the Charlotte Hornets,
:07:25
It would be Michael's last professional appearance
in North Carolina.
:07:29
It's always been a treat to come back home...
:07:31
when you've grown up here and you go out
and become a man on your own.
:07:35
And then come back home to show
what's evolved of that person.
:07:51
For fans who had watched him since his days
as a Carolina schoolboy,
:07:55
what emerged now was not just
the skill but the will power.
:07:59
Those who remembered his raw potential...
:08:03
now saw the results
of a lifetime of hard work.
:08:07
He would go to J.V. practice and practice,
:08:09
and then he'd go to varsity practice.
:08:10
We'd play
ball games, and after
the games were over,
:08:13
he'd run what we called "suicides"
or line drills...
:08:15
he'd run those by himself.
:08:18
I just maveled
at his work habits even then.
:08:21
With his competitiveness
to go with all that dedication,
:08:26
you know, it was something to see.
:08:30
The weakest par of Michael's game on the offensive end...
was his shooting.
:08:35
So he obviously mastered something...
:08:37
that eveybody said he couldn't
do when he came out of college.
:08:40
And he didn't by shooting
and shooting and shooting...
:08:43
and shooting consistently.
:08:45
The other thing that people told him...
:08:46
that he wasn't a really good defensive player.
:08:48
And he founda way...
:08:50
not only to become a great defensive player...
:08:53
but the best defensive player in the N.B.A.
:08:55
This guy said, "Those are my weaknesses.
:08:58
I'm going to figure out how to make those my strengths."
And he didn't.