From Brooklyn to Beijing: Stephon Marbury bids teary adieu to basketball

Representation picFormer NBA player Stephon Marbury ended a trailblazing 22year basketball career with rhyming couplets and tears after winning his lastever game Sunday in Beijing bidding an emotional farewell to his adoring Chinese fans The sixtime Chinese Basketball Association CBA allstar reinvented himself in China after a rocky end to his 13 years with the NBA becoming one of the first highprofile foreign players to ditch home for the Middle Kingdom in 2010He leaves the game just shy of his 41st birthday as one of the Chinese leagues most beloved stars honoured by Beijing with honorary citizenship a green card his own museum statue postage stamps and even a musical As cheerleaders danced with elegant fans and a yellow dragon mascot fistbumped Marbury scored 20 points to lead Beijing Beikong Fly Dragons to a 104point victory against Jiangsu who scored 92 Both sides seemed to step back to let him shine in his final minutes of play with Marbury grinning as he scored a last threepointer with seconds to goVictory cinched he sat stunned on the sidelines tears streaming down his face despite the jostling scrum of cameras around him A showreel of career highlights played to the saccharine tune of Wiz Khalifas See You Again before he took to centre court for a speech bringing tears even to the beaming cheerleaders Ending my basketball career here in China completes me This is it no NBA no anywhere This is the way its supposed to end here with you and only you he told the overflowing crowd at the Beijing Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium who yelled themselves hoarse Adopted and embraced There are good reasons for why the Brooklynborn player has I heart China tattooed on his arm next to the Mandarin characters for his Chinese name Ma BuliMarbury is the last player to retire from the famed 1996 NBA draft class considered one of the most talented drafts in history given its roster of champs like Ray Allen and Kobe Bryant Yet his career appeared at a deadend back in 2009 following ugly feuds with coaches on the New York Knicks and ultimately a ban from that team Then came a livestreamed breakdown in which he alternately raged and wept at the camera for hours before eating from a tub of vaseline His father had passed away and his shoe brand was losing steam I wanted to die Marbury later recalled to HBOs Real Sports But China gave him a second chance He led the Beijing Shougang Ducks to three championships during six seasons there before switching over to the Fly Dragons for his final yearAt one time I had no place for the blood to go and you opened up a portal to your hearts for me to flow You let me live when I was dying I cant explain how I feel as Im crying he rhymed from centre court as fans kept up a continuous deafening callandresponse of Ma Buli MVP The CBA struggles from Chinas difficulties in nurturing young talent thanks to a continued dependence on a Soviet model of player development So for Chinese basketball fans it remains a surreal treat to see NBAlevel players shooting hoops on their turfCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go