NBA BASKETBALL
The Newest Jordan Rules
<January 22, 2002>

By Jerry Mittleman

Just when it seemed we knew what to expect from Michael Jordan this year, he went out and surprised us again. On-court guru to younger teammates and second option on offense were never roles previously associated with Michael, but that’s what evolved into a winning formula as the Washington Wizards went on a nine game winning streak last month after a disastrous opening month in November. We all breathed a sigh of relief that Jordan and his team had turned the situation around and contented ourselves that it would be so for the remainder of the season.

Now, suddenly the old Michael Jordan is back. He's had a 51 point explosion and then he dropped in forty-five. We saw, total dominance, the return of the familiar self-confident swagger and that unique gleam in his eye. Who says you can’t turn back the clock? Mere mortals can’t, but this guy sure can.

The most exciting aspect of Jordan’s anticipated comeback had been the sense that “the sky’s the limit” with M.J., and his return would provide a wonderful antidote to the predictability of today’s NBA. The biggest disappointment till now hadn’t been the nightly clobbering his team absorbed in November, but the sense that Jordan had descended from basketball heaven. There had been no signs of his former explosiveness. Jordan was missing far too many open looks. He was getting an unspectacular 25 a night, through high volume, low percentage shooting. Both he and the Wizards seemed badly out of sync. It was almost a minor miracle in itself when Richard Hamilton emerged out of Jordan’s shadow to become a big time scorer, and several young interior players unexpectedly developed and gave the Wizards an inside presence. With Jordan playing a modified role, the Wizards developed on-court cohesiveness, self-confidence and winning ways. There was even a sense of awe that Jordan could educate this rag-tag bunch into genuine playoff contenders. Many considered it one of his ultimate achievements. It was all very sweet but not what we had waited three years for.

Now, it’s all back. That unique experience of watching the greatest player ever at the height of his craft, after we started believing we’d never see this again. There are a new set of “Jordan Rules.” Never think you can predict what Michael will do and never, ever underestimate him.

Of course, we can’t be sure how long this will all last and how the Wizards’ chemistry will be effected when Hamilton returns from the DL, but let’s leave it to Michael - he’s worked things out just fine so far.