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The NBA is back on NBC and Michael Jordan is back on the NBA. Kind of. NBC will air tidbits out of a larger interview with His Airness throughout the season. There’s no perfect time than this for Allen Iverson’s documentary, memoir, and press rounds to happen. NBC got to host The Answer through Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. This time it was not about his newfound sobriety, being Misunderstood as his docuseries and biography are titled, or reuniting with his wife, Tawanna. NBC was all about bringing back some of the best moments from the NBA. Tuesday night, NBC had its biggest stars from basketball on air. While NBC Sports opened the season with Mike Tirico’s sit-down with Jordan, Allen Iverson parodied his infamous ‘practice speech’ with ‘rehearsal’ on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. A starstruck Jimmy Fallon had to ask what he remembers from when NBC broadcasted his games, including when he played against the Michael Jordan-led Bulls. “That’s all I remember,” he said about the era when NBC began broadcasting NBA games in timeslot thanks to #23 leading Chicago to its first title. The advent of live basketball games created a whole generation of players like AI. “Michael Jordan, NBC, growin’ up all I wanted to do is watch Mike. That’s my hero, he was my vision, he was the reason why everyone knows Allen Iverson is today, because of him.” Allen Iverson would enter the NBA in 1996, alongside a baby-faced Kobe Bryant. He built his fame early in his rookie years at Philly. For him, the first time playing against his idol was unforgettable. However, he didn’t let MJ know he was his fan. Once in the game, his idol is only his competition. “Before the game, I was sitting. I remember the first time I was just staring at him and just looking at him like that’s him… That was the first I was really starstruck… But I actually, what I remember the most is he didn’t look real to me. That was the first time I saw a human that didn’t look real,” AI told Fallon. “He just had this aura, like this orange forcefield around him.” That ‘orange forcefield’ didn’t save the Black Cat’s dignity on March 12, 1997. Iverson pulled one of his signature crossovers that had Jordan tripping on his feet, leaving AI to make a shot over him. Fallon brought back that footage from NBC’s archives and Iverson had to make a tough confession. “It’s so embarrassing when I’m around him, I’m still starstruck. I’m embarrassing my friends, my friends got to tap me like, ‘Chuck, okay, man. Calm down! You’re embarrassing us!’” Iverson doesn’t think he can be Jordan’s peer. Only game time was different. “That’s different. He was a casualty of war. We were competing. Once the ball went up, then all that went away, it was time to dance,” he said about that rookie year clash. But embarrassment wasn’t the only reason why crossing up the Bulls legend haunts him. Read Top Stories First From EssentiallySports Click here and check box next to EssentiallySports Michael Jordan defined Allen Iverson’s legacy People bring up that famous crossover to AI, “Almost every day if not every day.” Iverson told Fallon that the most famous moment of his career almost went sideways. “If you think about it on that play, he still almost blocked my shot so… that’s a testimony to how great he was.” Making Michael Jordan trip would cement AI’s legacy. But another encounter with MJ would reinforce his ‘misunderstood’ persona. A verbal exchange with Jordan in his rookie year was mischaracterized in the media and made him an outlier of the NBA culture. “That’s when everything started going downhill for me,” AI revealed through an old profile on him. “In November of my rookie year, everybody loved Allen Iverson. No problems. And when that happened with Mike … it’s never been the same. I mean, they were the world champions.” He further claimed, “Mike tells me, ‘If you all are going to respect anybody, you all are going to respect us.’ And I said, ‘I’m not going to respect anybody.’ But I was talking about on the basketball court. I mean, the battle’s already lost once you over-respect someone like that, and he’s the greatest player in the world. But the media took that as me meaning I don’t respect Jordan — and blew it all out of proportion.” While outsiders made out that encounter into something else, Jordan himself is cool with Iverson. Although he did rib the former MVP by calling him a fake fan for crossing him up.
