If the match ended badly with a fight started by Juwan Howard, the Michigan coach, another former NBA All-Star was present at the Kohl Center in Madison this Sunday.
A legend of the university who would have an illustrious career in the Great League, including a title at the end of his career with the Spurs, Michael Finley was finally honored by his “alma mater”, more than thirty years after his passage.
In front of his relatives and former teammates, Michael Finley saw his #24 rise to the ceiling, a just reward for the one who shot 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in four seasons in Wisconsin, the only player in history college with three seasons at 20 points per game and the first Badger to reach 2,000 points.
It was under his leadership that Wisconsin indeed found the heights, qualifying for the final tournament in 1994, 47 years after the Badgers last qualified. Selected twice in the Big Ten best five, and cited three times as an honorable mention at the All American, FMichael inley has really put his four years in college to good use, elected in the rookie best five in 1996 as early as his arrival in the NBA.
Selected in 21st position by the Suns, he will be above all the first instigator of the revival of the Mavericks in the late 1990s, soon joined by Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. Passed to the rival Spurs, the back will win the supreme title in 2007 before ending his career on the side of Boston for a last freelance.
Current vice-president of basketball operations at the Mavs, Michael Finley may now be waiting for another ceremony in Dallas… but Mark Cuban is very restrictive on the withdrawal of jerseys.
