Jordan Is the Best Teacher the Wizards Could Have

Even though this is L.A. and all the famous people came to Staples Center to see Michael Jordan, it didn’t mean that Jordan was going to score 50 points or do between-the-legs dribbling or Superman dunks against your world champion Lakers.

He did not come here to embarrass Kobe Bryant or prove himself to us. He came here with the Washington Wizards to win another basketball game and get into another NBA playoff series. It is a professional’s way, to have only one purpose, winning games.

The Wizards didn’t win. They led by 20 once, which should never have happened. The Wizards aren’t nearly good enough to lead the Lakers by 20 even if Shaquille O’Neal has a sore toe and can’t play. The Lakers won, 103-94, and avoided another bad loss.

And it was good Jordan didn’t come here to be involved in a spectacular battle with Bryant. That gave the Lakers a chance to see what it is that has brought Jordan back to the game, to see how Jordan cherishes every bounce pass, every dribble, every rebound, every time he must bend his knees and assume the defensive position.

Every basketball instant is precious to Jordan. He doesn’t expect the Wizards to win an NBA title. He expects the young Wizards to play a little harder, a little smarter, a little better every night. He expects the young Wizards to eat right and work out right, to practice long and hard, to pay attention to the floor-bound aspects of the game as well as the high-flying ones.

“You have a guy like Michael Jordan as your teammate, you better pay attention to his every word,” Popeye Jones said before the game.

Jordan gave a little fist-pump when Jones made a 15-foot jump shot at the start of the third quarter.

The shot won’t be on any highlight film but it was important to the Wizards, who led by 13 at halftime, to not let the Lakers run off a bunch of points to start the second half. It was important because Jones has never been a reliable jump shooter. But in the NBA you should be able to make that shot. Jordan appreciated that Jones did.

“Michael teaches us something new about the game every day,” Jones said. “Little things that young guys don’t always pay attention to.”

What Jordan sees is the game. He sees how to win a game in many different ways. He sees himself as he is, a 38-year-old whose legs aren’t so springy, whose back isn’t so strong, whose vision is so different. His vision comes from the level of a chessboard and not from the blimp. Jordan sees the floor and not the rim. This is not better or worse, just different.

The Lakers could learn a little about heart from Jordan. According to his teammates, Jordan still practices harder than anyone else every day. He is not thrilled with loafing teammates, even in a simple drill.

It is easy for talented men like Bryant and O’Neal to get distracted by things they shouldn’t.

O’Neal’s whining about Brad Miller and throwing a punch and his coach, Phil Jackson, encouraging that whining, was unbecoming of a champion. Bryant’s very public dismay at being booed at the All-Star game in his hometown? Jordan would never do that. Jordan would just go back to Philadelphia and win, maybe by scoring 50 points or maybe by holding Allen Iverson to 10 points.

Jordan still anticipates the game better than the next nine best players in the league. When Wizard center Jahidi White didn’t make a cut he should have midway through the third quarter, Jordan was shaking his head almost before White should even have reached his spot. As soon as a whistle blew, Jordan had his arm around White and his mouth pressed to White’s ear.

What Jordan has coaxed from the Wizards this season is the beginnings of that same feel for the game. It is as if the Washington players have progressed from block printing to cursive writing.

Things happen faster for them now. What that fifth pass means makes sense. Proper spacing has become clear. When Jordan leaves again, for good, people like Jones and White, Brendan Haywood, Richard Hamilton, will have become better basketball players and whatever teams they play for in the future will be better teams because of what they learned from Jordan.

Bryant got his head and his heart into this game in the third quarter. He had 12 points and five assists. He ran full speed. He did everything with commanding crispness. He ended up with the third triple-double of his career. And when Bryant began playing that way, the Lakers came from 20 points down to lead by three at the end of the period and then to pull away in the fourth.

“One thing I’ve learned from Michael,” White said, “is that every single possession matters. He preaches how important it is to play hard every single second. And that doesn’t just mean in the game. What you do in practice is what you do in games.”

Jordan plays the same in the first quarter as in the fourth and he never waits for the third quarter. The crowd was never drawn to its feet in admiration but the game was worth watching. Jordan always is. And afterward, here’s what Bryant said. “We’re not here fighting for every possession, not like world champions should do. We have to come out and fight for every possession.”

Somebody paid attention.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at [email protected].