It was frustrating, and it could have become downright discouraging.

Brendan Haywood's introduction to professional basketball was a rude one, one he had little reason to expect after ending his college career at North Carolina last spring.

First, Haywood fell far below projections in the draft before finally being taken with the 20th pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was traded that same night to Orlando. Then, he was traded again later in the summer, this time to the hapless Washington Wizards. And shortly into training camp, he tore ligaments in his left thumb and was sidelined for six weeks.

Some welcome to the NBA, indeed.

But instead of moaning and groaning and dwelling on his misfortune, Haywood chose to chuckle a little instead.

Now that ability to take things in stride is paying off, and he's starting to get the last laugh.

He is playing a significant role for the Wizards, the team that is the biggest surprise in the NBA, and he is establishing himself as one of the better young big men in the league.

"Things are going pretty well right now," Haywood said before the Wizards' 107-90 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night. "I have a ways to go to get where I want to be, and I want to continue to improve every day, but overall I'm pretty happy. A lot of things that went against me earlier are turning out to be a blessing in disguise."

Haywood's sense of humor has been a key element all along.

"Things didn't start out like I hoped they would," he said. "But I kept everything as lighthearted as I could. When I got here, some of the guys started calling me Don MacLean because I was being traded so many times, so we all just kinda laughed and joked about it.

"The fact is, I was happy to be traded from Cleveland. I wanted them to trade me, so that didn't bother me at all. I was surprised when I was traded from Orlando, but I came here and I had a good workout so I thought this would be a good fit for me. As it turns out, it is probably a better fit for me than Orlando would have been."

Haywood has averaged 7.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.13 blocked shots in 17 games since coming off the injured list, playing 26 minutes a game as the backup center to Jahidi White.

Haywood's numbers have been far-more impressive in the past few weeks, and he has been a significant reason why the Wizards have won 10 of their past 12.

He scored 19 recently in a win at Dallas and followed with 17 points and 15 rebounds in a victory at Memphis.

"He's made a big difference since he's come back," said Johnny Bach, the former Hornets' assistant coach now with the Wizards. "He and Tyronn Lue are probably the two biggest reasons we've turned things around. We thought he was the best young big man we had in training camp. Then he got hurt, but he's picked up right where he left off before his injury."

After Haywood had 18 points and 11 rebounds against Orlando earlier in the year, Doc Rivers admitted to Bach that the Magic was already regretting dealing Haywood.

"He said, 'We made a big mistake letting that guy go,' " Bach said. "And they did. He's going to have a long career in this league. He plays big. He's tall and lanky, and he reminds me a lot of Robert Parish with those long arms and everything. And he's got the fundamentals already, which not a lot of young big men have anymore. You put him next to Kwame (Brown), and it's just obvious how much he benefited from four years in a good college program."

Haywood's UNC ties are helping in another sense. It turns out that Haywood has become Michael Jordan's pet project this season.

And to have Jordan take a personal interest has to be a great motivating factor.

"That's been good for me," Haywood said. "He just tells me the little things I need to do to be a player. A lot of guys are good enough to play in this league, but they lack the little things, and those are the things he concentrates on because he wants me to have a long career.

"It's one of those things where when Michael Jordan says something to you, you know it's the truth. He's the greatest of all time, and when he speaks, you need to listen."

Haywood admits that he's a bit surprised to be playing as well as he has been.

"One of the reasons I never got down was that I knew I had a three-year contract and I had three years to prove myself," he said. "I just wanted to come in and work hard on my defense early and let everything else take care of itself. I'm getting more minutes here than I would have in Orlando, so I can't complain."

For all of Vince Carter's aches and pains and bumps and bruises through the years, he has remained remarkably durable.

Carter has missed only eight games in his NBA career. No. 8 came last night and his Raptors sorely missed him as they were thumped 101-75 by the Seattle SuperSonics at the Key Arena.

With Carter nursing a strained left shoulder and the Raptors missing two other regulars in Hakeem Olajuwon and Chris Childs, the odds certainly were stacked against them. On top of that, they were playing the second of back-to-back games following their win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday.

Still, Raptors coach Lenny Wilkens obviously would have liked his team to offer a tad more resistance than it did. The Sonics never had to look in the rearview mirror in the second half after burying the Raptors with a big second quarter.

Coming off the worst game of his career, Michael Jordan felt he needed to make a statement. Boy, did he ever.

Embarrassing every defender who tried to guard him, Jordan scored 51 points and set franchise records with 24 first-quarter points and 34 points in a half Saturday night as the Wizards snapped a two-game losing streak with a 107-90 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

"Fifty-one is something I didn?t imagine," Charlotte forward P.J. Brown said. "He kind of went back in time tonight."

Jordan made 21 of 38 shots from the field, 9 of 10 free throws and had seven rebounds and four assists in 38 minutes. He had a shot at Earl Monroe?s franchise game record of 56 until the Wizards blew the game open in the third quarter, allowing coach Doug Collins to sit his star for good with 3:08 remaining in the game.

"You think the guy?s got a little pride?" Collins said.

"He had a tough night in Indiana, and I think he was going to come back and show who he is. ... I?ve seen this guy do some unbelievable things, but at age 38 to do this tonight is incredible."

Jordan scored a career-low six points in Thursday?s loss to the Pacers, ending his record 866-game streak of 10 points or more. He needed only 4:25 to start another double-digit streak, making five of his first six shots and scoring the Wizards? first 13 points.

"I?m pretty sure you guys were saying how old I was," Jordan said. "And I wanted certainly to make a statement offensively."

Jordan?s 39th regular season 50-point game also set an MCI Center record and was the first 50-point game by a Wizards player since Tracy Murray scored 50 at Golden State on Feb. 10, 1998. It was the first 50-point game by a Wizards player at home since Bernard King?s 50 against Utah on March 6, 1991.

It was Jordan?s first 50-pointer since scoring 55 points for Chicago in a playoff game against Washington in 1997.

Hubert Davis added 21 points and Jahidi White had 12 points and a season-high 12 rebounds for the Wizards.

Jamaal Magloire scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Hornets, who beat the Wizards 99-93 on Wednesday. Baron Davis, who was listed as doubtful with a bruised right knee, started and scored 14 points in 42 minutes.

Realizing he was hot, Jordan wanted the ball and wanted it badly. Two familiar moves were on display early and often: the fadeaway off the screen and the pivot around a defender who left his feet falling for the fake.

Jordan?s best move: On the right wing, he moved to the right around Magloire, hung the air forever and kissed a 14-footer off the glass while drawing the foul. Jordan made the free throw to give the Wizards a 25-19 lead.

Jordan didn?t have his legs in the fourth quarter, shooting just 2-for-7, but he blew past Stacey Augmon for an easy layup with seven minutes left.

"It?s been a long time since someone said that I was hanging in the air," Jordan said. "I felt real good in the first half. My rhythm, my timing was perfect, and I had the defense guessing. It was one of those nights."

Jordan and Davis were Washington?s only offense in the first half, with the pair making 20 of 29 shots and accounting for 48 of the team?s 56 points. The result was a seesaw half that included 23 lead changes before Jordan?s 17-footer with four seconds left gave the Wizards a 56-51 lead at the break.

But Collins switched his defense at halftime and shut down the paint. Charlotte?s guards were unable to pick up the slack: Davis was 6-for-21, and David Wesley was 1-for-11. The front court tandem of Brown and Elden Campbell, which combined for 29 points in the first half, had just four points in the second.

The Wizards put the game away with a 13-0 run with no points from Jordan. Chris Whitney and Davis hit 3-pointers, and White had a 3-point play and made two more free throws in the spurt that put Washington ahead 75-56 with 4:46 left in the third quarter. The biggest lead was 21 at 80-59.

Hornets never got closer than 12 in the final quarter as the Wizards improved to 14-0 when leading after three.

Jordan said he?s felt this kind of rhythm only once before this season, when he scored 44 in a loss to Utah.

"I hate to see wasted energy like that," Jordan said. "And we won the game tonight."

Notes: The previous Wizards record for first-quarter points was 23, set by King exactly 11 years earlier ? Dec. 29, 1990 ? against Denver. The previous record for points in a half was held by Jeff Malone, who had 33 against Phoenix on Feb. 27, 1988. The franchise record for points in a quarter or half have only been kept since the team moved from Baltimore in 1973. ... Monroe scored 56, when the team was called the Baltimore Bullets, against the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 13, 1968. ... The Wizards played without Courtney Alexander, whom Collins said "felt something pull" in his leg in the final minutes Thursday. Collins said Alexander, who has also been bothered by a sprained ankle, was too sore to play. ... The Hornets had won nine of the previous 11 against the Wizards.

The Charlotte Hornets found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time last night - in Michael Jordan's crosshairs on a night when he was on the prowl.

It was a night they'd just as soon forget, and a night a crowd of 20,674 at the MCI Center will long remember.

Bouncing back after scoring a career-low six points in a loss at Indiana on Thursday night, Jordan erupted for a season-high 51 as the Washington Wizards routed the Hornets 107-90.

It was a vintage performance by the man generally regarded to be the best player in NBA history, and it was far and away his best game since returning from a three-year layoff.

"He kinda went back in time on us tonight," forward P.J. Brown of the Hornets said.

"I knew he was going to come out and try to make a statement, because that's the way he is. That's the way he's always been. He's never going to have two bad games in a row like that. But 51, that's still hard to imagine."

Jordan scored the Wizards' first 13 points and 19 of their first 22. He had 24 by the end of the first quarter, 34 at halftime and 45 after three. He finished 21 of 38 from the field and nine of 10 from the free-throw line.

He entered the game averaging 22.7, which ranked him 12th in the league and well below his career scoring average of 31.7. He had gone just 2 of 10 from the field in 25 minutes in a 108-81 loss at Indiana on Thursday.

"I figured if I had another game like that you guys would start talking about how old I was," Jordan said. "So I wanted to make a statement tonight. But more important, I wanted to get back on the winning track. I felt like we were ready to get back on a winning streak again tonight."

The Wizards snapped a two-game losing streak, which started with a 99-93 loss at Charlotte on Wednesday night, and raised their record to 15-14. They won only 19 games last season.

The loss was the Hornets' second in two nights and dropped them to 13-17, four games under .500 for the first time all season. They have lost four of their last five and six of their past eight.

"It really was like we were in the wrong place at the wrong time," Coach Paul Silas of the Hornets said. "You knew he was going to have a big game, and once he got rolling, it was just impossible to stop him. We made the decision we weren't going to rotate and all that stuff, and then once he got that jumper going there was very little we could do."

The Hornets trailed only 56-51 at halftime despite Jordan's early eruption, and they seemed to be in good position to beat the Wizards for the third time this season if Jordan slowed down. But that didn't happen, and the Wizards pulled out to a 22-point lead midway through the third quarter thanks to a 24-7 run.

"We won the game in the third quarter," Jordan said. "As much as I had scored, we were only up five at halftime and so you had to be a little worried. But the guys started stepping up at that point and we played well."

Jordan set five Wizards or MCI Center records, but he didn't get the franchise scoring record of 56 set by Earl Monroe. The record for most points by a Hornets opponent continues to be 57 by Indiana's Reggie Miller.

Hubert Davis complemented Jordan with 21 points. Jamaal Magloire led the Hornets with 22 points, Brown had 17 points and eight rebounds, Elden Campbell scored 16, and Baron Davis scored 14.

Davis had sat out most of the second half in Friday night's 105-89 loss to Milwaukee because of a sore knee, and he was not expected to play last night. But he wound up playing 42 minutes, extending his streak of consecutive games to 194. He has not missed a game in his three-year NBA career.

The Hornets will now be off until Thursday, when they will play the Golden State Warriors to open a five-game homestand.

Santa Claus was good to Pat Williams, delivering a nine-game winning streak to the Orlando Magic's senior vice president.

It may appear that the big guy got the order a little confused; the streak was accomplished by Michael Jordan's Washington Wizards, not by the Magic. But the timing couldn't have been more fortuitous for Williams, who was completing a 22-city tour for a book he had written about Jordan.

Or at least he thought the tour was winding down -- until the winning streak.

"Usually a book tour is a month or so, but in this case it's gone on for three months, and the plan was to basically terminate it at Christmas," Williams said. "But I am now talking with them seriously about the fact that the Wizards are just heating up, Michael appears to be just hitting his stride. . . this is an ongoing story and why can't we keep hammering on this book all winter."

The 61-year-old Williams, who basically created the Magic, has authored two dozen books. "How to Be Like Mike" is his most successful by far.

"I don't have numbers yet. All I can measure is that if the publisher is not happy, book tours terminate quickly. I've had a number of them when the plug is pulled midstream with no warning," he said.

The book is published by Health Communications, Inc., of Deerfield Beach, publishers of "Chicken Soup for the Soul," which has sold 90 million copies, Williams said. The publishers like the concept of "How to be Like Mike" so much that Williams has been authorized to write similar books about John Wooden, Walt Disney and Magic Owner/Amway co-founder Rich DeVos. Other possibilities are Cal Ripken Jr., and Jackie Robinson. His next book will be "How to Be Like Jesus."

The Jordan book is subtitled "Life Lessons About Basketball's Best." It is written as a series of accolades and anecdotes that define who Jordan is and how he has become so great at what he does. Not knowing anything about Jordan's comeback plans, Williams wrote Jordan a letter at the outset, explaining his intention but not asking him to participate. Then he interviewed more than 1,500 people.

"What I really wanted was to get into his world," Williams said.

His success has been verified by no less an authority than Deloris Jordan, Michael's mother.

"One of my prize possessions is a two-page letter from Mrs. Jordan about the book," said Williams. "In summation, the bottom line of what she said was: 'You've captured my son.'. . . " The author is fascinated by Jordan's willpower, leadership ability and phenomenal stamina. But perhaps what comes across most is Jordan's genuine love of basketball.

My favorite anecdote is from 1994 when Jordan was struggling as a minor league baseball player in Birmingham, Ala. On his way to the ballpark one summer afternoon, he stopped by a 10-year-old boy shooting baskets in his driveway and asked if he could join him. They shot baskets together for 20 minutes and then Jordan got in his car and drove away.

"Here is the Michael Jordan we don't see," writes Williams. "Here is what exists beyond the iconography. It is not a pre-packaged smile, not a silhouetted T-shirt slogan, not a commerical spokesman, not a towering image on a TV screen. No. Here is a man. And here is a child."

Jordan's latest comeback has been a huge and unexpected bonus for Williams. Without it, all he had was a book.

"Now there's a news angle to it which has been very helpful," Williams says. "Everywhere I go, it's: 'Tell us about Michael. Why is doing this? What have you learned?'. . . " The comeback, as Williams sees it, is about Jordan's commitment to the Wizards.

"He's made a full commitment to this Washington franchise. He sat up in that owners' box for two years and I think it drove him crazy," Williams explained. "A franchise at the lowest level humanly possible, in success, in interest, in following, I mean absolutely couldn't be any lower, highlighted by a 19-win season under a rookie coach. Not a great group of guys.

"So Michael watches this and I think he said: 'I can't go through five years of this. We've got to do something to expedite it.' And his decision was to come down amongst them. And that's what he did. He said I will nestle amongst them and see if we can't juice this thing up."

If that sounds a bit messianic, so be it.

"It certainly has rejuvenated the franchise," Williams said. "There's enormous interest in Washington; they sell out every game. And they're making tremendous strides on the court. Rip Hamilton, (Brendan) Haywood, Kwame Brown, these guys seem to be getting it a little bit."

The Wizards' winning streak is over. But of course, so is Christmas. When the streak started, the Wizards were 3-10 and even Williams didn't expect much.

"I was thinking it's been a great run, I've loved doing the book, Michael's legacy will never be forgotten, the lessons of the book are just as valid, and let's see if he can through this," he said. "But I didn't give it much hope. I mean, I saw the Wizards play up in Boston and I didn't think they were gonna win two games. I just didn't think they had a chance."

Williams' book tour took him to Boston and Atlanta when the Wizards were playing there in November. After watching Williams discuss the book on television in Atlanta, Jordan couldn't resist teasing the author when they met in person in Boston.

"What are you doing, following me around? And besides, you're telling all my stories!" Jordan said.

"Well Michael," Williams replied. "They need to be told."

CHARLOTTE (13-16) AT WASHINGTON (14-14)
Time: 7 p.m., MCI Center

TV: Fox Sports

Radio: WBT-AM (1110)

Starting lineups

The Hornets can win the season series tonight. They won in Washington (95-88) and again in Charlotte (99-93) Wednesday. They'll play in Charlotte April5.

Michael Jordan followed his 28-point game against Charlotte this week by scoring six points Thursday in a loss at Indiana. His average dropped to 22.7 a game.

The Hornets lost two of three (at Minnesota and Atlanta) on their most recent road trip. Overall they are 9-8 on the road.

Michael Jordan drew a sellout crowd to Conseco Fieldhouse on Thursday night, and fans hoping to see something memorable from the basketball legend got just that.

But nobody ever said something memorable has to be good.

 




Jordan, in a sluggish performance matched by his nondescript teammates, scored a career-low six points in the Washington Wizards' 108-81 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

The dreary outing snapped Jordan's streak of 866

Michael Jordan did something tonight that he never did in his illustrious 14-season tenure in the NBA. He scored just six points.

In Washington's 108-81 loss to the Indiana Pacers before a sold-out crowd of 18,345 at Conseco Fieldhouse -- its worst loss of the season -- Jordan failed to score in double digits for the first time in 866 games, according to the Washington Post.

The last time Jordan scored in single digits came on March 22, 1986 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, when he was a member of the Chicago Bulls, had yet to come close to winning a championship or contemplate his first retirement.

Now, 28 games out of his second retirement, the 38-year-old Jordan made just 2 of 10 shots and 1 of 2 free throws in Washington's second consecutive defeat after its nine-game winning streak was halted on Wednesday night in Charlotte.

Jordan said he probably could have reached the double-digit mark but he did not want to play in the meaningless fourth quarter when the game was decided simply to salvage his scoring streak.

At 38 years of age there are bound to be nights where Michael Jordan will struggle in his third comeback, expecially in back-to-back games like last night's against Indiana.  And struggle Jordan did, playing only 25 minutes for six whole points on 2-for-10 shooting in the Wizards blowout loss.  Six points!  A career low, and the first time Jordan has failed to score in double digits in 866 games.

The last time this happened was March 22, 1986 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"I knew where I was in terms of that," Jordan said about his point output. "That's not important to me. What is important is that we play responsibly and play with energy. When we go bad we just go bad. You can blame a lot scenarios, traveling, back-to-back games, whatever but we had no continuity. Not defensively, offensively. We had nothing."

Imagine Wednesday?s sellout Charlotte Coliseum crowd was more than a two- or three-time-a-year event.

It used to be that way.

And it might be that way now had Hornets owner George Shinn agreed to take on Michael Jordan as his partner in the spring of 1999.

But Shinn balked at giving Jordan control, instead selling 35 percent of his team to Ray Wooldridge.

In the years since, Jordan joined the ownership group of the Washington Wizards, eventually choosing to return to action this season and ensuring profit for the first time in many years for that franchise.

And Charlotte ...

Well, anyone who?s been in the area for more than a day or two can hear theories as to why Shinn and Wooldridge have alienated their fanbase to the point of apathy and non-support.

Could Jordan have changed that history? Most think so.

But Jordan said Wednesday that his return to the NBA with the Wizards didn?t necessarily mean he?d have returned for the Hornets had Shinn agreed to take him on as a co-owner.

Jordan was in Charlotte as a player for the first time since May 1998 ? prompting the Hornets? first sellout of the season. But even as Jordan tried hard to speak as positively as he could about his potential partner, it?s quite obvious he understands why Shinn has suffered without him.

"Well, that?s a scenario where you had two business people trying to find a compromise and it never happened," Jordan said of his negotiations to become Shinn?s partner. "I moved on and I ended up in Washington. And they?re dealing with what they had to deal with here."

However, when Jordan admitted there was the possibility that a deal could?ve been struck, he confirmed what many have speculated without coming out and actually saying it.

Namely, that the Hornets wouldn?t be shopping their franchise all over the country and fans here would?ve been selling out more than just Jordan?s return games for another team.

"There were some scenarios under which it could?ve worked out," Jordan said. "But it just didn?t. Unfortunately, the people that are going to pay the most are the fans. That?s always a tough situation. I?m pretty sure management?s going to do what they have to do. But, once again, fans are the ones that are going to get the short end of the stick."

When pressed to elaborate on how the deal broke down, Jordan declined to get too specific. But it wasn?t hard to read between the lines.

"It was a number of things," Jordan said. "... I don?t turn back on something that may somehow be used to criticize management. I had a vision in terms of what I wanted to do with the team as far as control. And management had a different perspective. We both were very hardened with our views and that was the deciding situation. It wasn?t a financial situation and it wasn?t, I don?t think, a situation with getting the arena. I think it was, more or less, who had the final say-so when it came to basketball situations. That happens."

He then went further, explaining that Shinn?s stubborness was truly the deciding factor.

"When you have two egotistical guys working to find the best way to solve a problem and one?s hardened and the other?s hardened, then you don?t get a compromise," Jordan said. "So the best way to do it is to go our separate ways. Which is what happened. I wished them well. They wished me well. And I?m a situation that I very happen with. And I wish them the best."

However, the best thing for Charlotte?s current owners could involve the Hornets leaving town. It?s a prospect Jordan hopes doesn?t happen.

"I think it would be really sad to see, with the success that this franchise had early on to take it and move it somewhere else," Jordan said. "I think the fans here in Charlotte would be devastated to some degree. But, yet, I don?t know how you solve the issue that they?re dealing with.

"Unfortunately, you?ve got a lot of problems happening in the business of basketball. It just so happens that it?s going on here in Charlotte. And it?s unfortunate for the fans."

What?s most unfortunate is that the only way Jordan can sellout the Charlotte Coliseum is as an opponent.