Metta World Peace憶述當年打斷Jordan肋骨的事件：「我傷心了好幾天啊！」

可能"The Last Dance"沒有告訴你，其實在2001-03年Michael Jordan職業生涯晚期效力巫師至退役之前，他就一直努力籌備復出事宜，可是卻發生了一些意外以致需要養傷三個月。

到底是什麼意外呢？今天其中一位當事人Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) 在《Scoop B Radio》的播客節目上憶述了事發經過和內心感受。

在2001年的夏天，當時Michael Jordan打算再次復出打球，所以特意在臨近開季前邀請效力公牛的二年級Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) 一同訓練。沒料到在比賽期間，Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) 竟然意外打斷了Michael Jordan的肋骨，害他養傷三個多月。

引用Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) 回應此事，表示：「那是一場誤會，實際上，我也不會告訴你這全都是誤會，其實是當時我們的對抗極具侵略性。你需要想像到Mike (Michael Jordan) 有多強壯和他擁有的競爭力。當我們正在互相糾纏的時候選，我試圖撥開他的手臂，卻意外肘擊中了他......我絕對不是有心想打斷他的肋骨，我只是表現得很進取，我做的都是務求阻止Mike (Michael Jordan) 。那一天的比賽我還記得非常清楚，我對Mike (Michael Jordan) 作出了進攻犯規。當時他還請來自己的裁判，給予我一個很好的機會讓我可以在防守端發揮。但我打斷了他的肋骨，然後我傷心了好幾天。你懂的，我無心傷害他的。」

“It was a mistake. Actually I’m not going to tell you it was a mistake, it was really aggressive basketball,” World Peace told Scoop. “You got to think how strong Mike is and how competitive Mike is and when we were tangling over each other in the post in the summertime, I tried to move his arm out the way and accidently hit him with my elbow…

“I definitely didn’t mean to hit him in the ribs, but I was really aggressive; whatever I had to do to deny Mike. I remember the play clear as day — I actually got the offensive foul called against Mike. I also hit the ball and got an offensive foul on him. He had refs in the summertime. Which is (a) really good play for me because it was a great defensive play. But I hurt his ribs and I was like, really sad for a couple of days. You know, I really didn’t like that.”

但其實無論什麼時期的球迷應該都很熟悉Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) 的「肘擊」，到底打斷Michael Jordan肋骨的事件，他是有心或是無意，只有他自己才最清楚了。

來源：https://clutchpoints.com/nba-news-metta-world-peace-details-epic-story-when-he-broke-michael-jordan-ribs/, https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/metta-world-peace-once-broke-michael-jordans-ribs-during-summer-pickup-game