Michael Jordan loves himself some cigars, so much so that he was actually smoking one at halftime of the 2003 All-Star Game. Paul Pierce was a teammate of Jordan’s for the East for that game and on the Truth Lounge, he shared the story of the Chicago Bulls icon casually smoking a cigar and then hitting a clutch shot late in the contest.
“Jordan so cold,” Pierce said. “At the All-Star Game, at halftime, he was hitting the cigar. I’m thinking like, ‘Damn, he smoking a cigar at halftime. Is he going out in the second half?’ Then he goes out in the second half and hits the game-winner.
“I’m thinking he’s done for the night,” Pierce continued. “He in the back with Ahmad Rashad hitting the cigar at halftime with the jersey still on… (I was like), ‘Man, Jordan must be done for the day.’ Then he goes out, hits the game fadeaway in the baseline… That was crazy, dog.”
Only MJ could pull this off. 🤣
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Pierce did get one detail wrong there, but considering it has been over 20 years, it wasn’t all that surprising. The game went to overtime as the scores were tied at 120 and it seemed like Jordan had won it for the East at the end of the extra period. He drilled a clutch fadeaway to give the East a 138-136 lead with 4.8 seconds remaining.
Kobe Bryant was then fouled, however, when attempting a game-winning three-pointer. He only hit two out of three free throws, though, and the contest went to double overtime. Kevin Garnett then took over the game in the period to lead the West to a 155-145 win and won All-Star Game MVP.
As for Jordan, he finished his 14th and final All-Star Game with 20 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in 36 minutes. Pierce, meanwhile, played 18 minutes and recorded 8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals. He would go on to play in eight more All-Star games to finish his career with 10 in total.
Michael Jordan Shared That Jerry Reinsdorf Gave Him His First Cigar
In many of Jordan’s iconic moments over the years, he can be seen smoking a cigar, but ever wondered when he actually started smoking? Well, Jordan did reveal who got him his very first cigar.
“I smoked my first cigar in 1991, when we won the championship. Up to that point, I had never smoked a cigar, never smoked anything. We won the championship, and Jerry Reinsdorf gave me one of his cigars. He’s a big cigar smoker.”
“The next time I received a cigar was from my good friend, Ahmad Rashad. He used to get these Churchills from Las Vegas that were dipped in rum. I wouldn’t smoke them, but I would sit there and chew on them. I got to the point where it became very relaxing.”
“In Chicago, I tell people this, and they have to understand the context of what happened. We had to be to the stadium at 6 o’clock for home games, and traffic was so bad it would take us an hour and 15 or an hour and 30 minutes to drive. So now I’m sitting in a car for almost an hour and a half, and I’m very tense. I’m worried about the traffic. So I started smoking a cigar going to the games. In 1993, It became a ritual for every home game.”
It is quite hilarious that the traffic in Chicago ended up making it a ritual for Jordan to smoke them. His love for cigars seems to have only grown as the years have gone by as well.
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