kingsnation
All-Star
AleksandarN said:The fans outlasted him, though, forcing Webber to look up and around the arena and applaud them in return. A nice gesture, to be sure, though with Webber you never quite know what's sincere and what is simply the role he's chosen to play for the night.
He then reverted to his long-running I'm-a-badass persona once the ball went up, a recurring role that he first broke out with the Fab Five in Michigan. This time, though, he didn't play it with the same intensity seen in his first meetings with the Wizards, say, after they traded him or the first few times he faced Don Nelson after his exodus from the Warriors. He buried a 20-foot jumper 11 seconds into the game and then peered around Skinner to glower at former teammate Mike Bibby, as if to say, "Bring it." When Bibby drove for a layup, Webber stepped over to challenge the shot and knocked Bibby on his back in the follow-through, as if to say, "Don't think I won't." Or maybe it was: "Yeah, I didn't do much of that when I was here this season but that doesn't mean I can't."
Then, when Peja Stojakovic came at him on a breakaway and missed a leaner, Webber grabbed the rebound and smirked, as if to say, "I told you he was soft." This being the Peja he vaguely accused last summer of not being tough enough and therefore a reason why the Kings never reached the NBA Finals. When another turnover produced another Stojakovic drive on Webber, Stojakovic finished this one and drew a foul as well. Webber patted referee Gary Zielinski on the butt, said, "Good call," and then sneered all the way back to the 76ers' bench. A little later, he grabbed a rebound and bounce-passed it behind his back to Iverson while staring at the Kings' bench, as if to say, "Yeah, you once had a big man who could that."
As one visiting scout suggested, upon hearing the standing ovation: "I wonder if they're applauding that he's gone."
I got confused after reading this...Does Bucher write for the one of the biggest sports companies in the world or for The Enquirer?