Mourning says no to stretcher, but might be done
Alonzo Mourning refused to leave on a stretcher what might have been the last game of his career. After tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee in Miami's 117-111 overtime loss at Atlanta last night, the veteran Heat center was placed on the stretcher, but he refused the ride.
Alonzo Mourning refused to leave on a stretcher what might have been the last game of his career.
After tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee in Miami's 117-111 overtime loss at Atlanta last night, the veteran Heat center was placed on the stretcher, but he refused the ride.
"That's not the way I envisioned myself, walking off the court for the last time in my career," said Mourning, 37. "I've been through so much in my life. If I had to crawl off the court I would have. Nobody was going to push me off on a stretcher off the court. That wasn't going to happen."
"We tried to help him up and he just said, 'It's over, it's over,' " Miami's Udonis Haslem said.
Mourning sat up, rose to his feet and limped to the Miami bench with the assistance of teammates. He received an ovation as he made the slow, painful walk to the bench.
Mourning is in his 15th year in the NBA, including 11 seasons with Miami.
Joe Johnson scored 25 points and gave the Hawks the lead for good with a three-point play in overtime for the win.
In other games last night:
* At Boston, Chauncey Billups (28 points) hit two free throws with a tenth of a second left and Detroit handed the Celtics their first home loss, 87-85.
* At Memphis, Rudy Gay (23 points) hit a three-pointer as time expired, giving the Grizzlies an 88-85 victory over San Antonio.
* At Minneapolis, Al Harrington scored 25 points and Golden State ran past Minnesota, 111-98.
* At New York, David Lee scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half, Jamal Crawford added 21, and the Knicks beat Cleveland, 108-90.
* At Washington, Ben Gordon scored 22 points and Chicago used a 12-0 run in the final 4 minutes to beat the Wizards, 95-84.
* At Charlotte, Gerald Wallace scored 26 points as the Bobcats beat Utah, 98-92.
* At Milwaukee, Ron Artest scored 26 points to help Sacramento beat the Bucks, 102-89.
* At Houston, Dwight Howard had 21 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks and Orlando beat the Rockets, 97-92. Houston's Tracy McGrady was held out of the second half with a sore knee.
* At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points, including the Mavericks' final eight as they held off Phoenix, 108-105.
* At Seattle, Chris Paul had 21 points and 15 assists to lift New Orleans to a 107-93 win.
* At Portland, Brandon Roy had 25 points, nine assists and eight rebounds as the Trail Blazers won their ninth straight game, 101-96 over Toronto.
Noteworthy
* Spurs star Tony Parker has sued the Web site X17online.com, which published stories claiming he had an affair with a French model. Parker, married to actress Eva Longoria, is seeking at least $40 million in damages. *