Published: November 25, 2009
On November 24, 2008, Washington DC area native, Eddie Jordan was relieved of his duties as Washington Wizards head coach. He got a call that day from Abe Pollin who explained why the team had chosen to go in a different direction after five years and four playoff appearances.
One year later, Jordan returned to the Verizon Center as a head coach, but now he was leading the Philadelphian76ers. And up until three hours before the game, all the talk surrounded Jordan’s return, the irony of the current Wizards’ struggles and internal fighting a year after he was fired, and how he would feel returning home.
Then the news broke that Wizards owner Abe Pollin had passed away at age 85 after a long illness, and suddenly that moved to the top of the long list of emotions Jordan was already carrying.
A little more than an hour before tipoff, a calm Eddie Jordan addressed the media and discussed the circumstances around Mr. Pollin hiring him, how it was to work for Mr. Pollin, his feelings on returning to DC, and how to stop his former team.
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