ATLANTA - It appeared to be another storybook, all-net sendoff. Only this time, lots happened after the swish.

	Jordan

The game kept going Sunday night, even after Michael Jordan separated from his defender and drained his rainbow from the baseline and shook his fist. One perfect ending, apparently, is all you get.

Even when you're Michael Jordan.

Jordan got a lot in the 52nd NBA All-Star Game. Even he would say later it was too much. He also couldn't deny that he would have traded Vince Carter's starting spot and the halftime tribute and all the hoopla that made him "somewhat embarrassed" for the privilege of this swish standing as Sunday's game-winner.

It didn't.

This time, late in the first overtime at Philips Arena, Shawn Marion hounded Jordan almost out of bounds and Jordan made the shot anyway. In what he insists will be his last All-Star Game, a week away from his 40th birthday, Jordan looped in a 15-foot fallaway for a 138-136 lead.

It was a moment to overshadow the debate over taking Carter's place in the starting lineup, and Mariah Carey's multiple serenades at intermission. And then referee Ted Bernhardt blew his whistle.

Jermaine O'Neal was called for fouling Kobe Bryant on a 3-point attempt with one second left on the clock. Bryant made only two of his three free throws, but that forced a second overtime. When the West scored 11 of the first 13 points in the second OT, Jordan stayed rooted to the bench, sitting out the whole period as the East absorbed a 155-145 defeat.

"It was a fun ending," Jordan said, "any way you look at it."

Just not a fairy-tale finish. It was, in a sense, the opposite of what happened after Jordan's unretirement wiped out the famous swish over Bryon Russell that won Game 6, and ring No. 6, in the 1998 NBA Finals. This time, Jordan didn't get to decide.

This time, the moment was snatched from Jordan, forcing him to settle for more memories, some good and some that aren't so pleasant. With 20 points, Jordan surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the leading scorer in All-Star history, as a participant in the first double-overtime game in All-Star annals. Of greater satisfaction, no one from the West took it easy on him, which would have disappointed Jordan more than anything.

Shaquille O'Neal picked up Jordan on a first-quarter switch on the wing, knocked the ball away as Jordan drove and proudly crowed to MJ: "I'm here." In the fourth quarter, as the West was erasing a 10-point deficit in the final three-plus minutes, Kevin Garnett powered inside over Jordan for two of his game-high 37 points and chided MJ by chirping: "Too little."

Jordan savored those moments and the occasional matchups and jousting with Bryant. Anything to avoid being seen as "a patsy," as Jordan described it.

The forgettable: Jordan needed 27 shots to get his 20 points after missing his first seven shots, including another dunk to go with last year's missed dunk in Philadelphia. The biggest miss came at the end of regulation, on another potential game-winning jumper.

Jordan was also admittedly overwhelmed by the "fanfare" of the halftime show -- "Hopefully it doesn't get like this everywhere I go," he said -- and bothered much more by the Carter flap, in which he felt forced to start.

MJ had resisted the urging of East teammates and coach Isiah Thomas well into pregame warm-ups. Thomas confirmed afterward that "none of the guys would go out on the floor unless Jordan started the game." Finally Carter, who had been mildly booed during the intros, grabbed Jordan and offered his spot -- after saying for days that he wouldn't be badgered into it.

"I felt like (Carter) had taken a beating, and he shouldn't have," Jordan said. "I didn't want him to take any more of a beating and so that's why I stepped in and took his spot."

It was that sort of weekend in Atlanta, where Jordan's presence dwarfed everything.

Yao Ming made his All-Star debut, logging just 17 minutes and explaining afterward that "today was his All-Star Game." Real or imagined personality conflicts -- Garnett vs. Stephon Marbury, Shaq vs. Yao -- didn't generate a fraction of the coverage devoted to rehashing the famed Isiah-MJ "freezeout" situation from the 1985 All-Star Game. Garnett seemed more pleased about simply beating "Bald Head" than winning the MVP trophy, the kind of tribute Jordan prefers.

All that was missing was what Jordan and everyone else in the house thought he had delivered with 4.9 seconds left in that first overtime. The sort of signature swish Magic Johnson launched over Thomas in the unforgettable 1992 All-Star Game.

"Don't be mad at me," Bryant joked. "I didn't call the foul."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. Also, click here to send a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.