The Washington Wizards received good news yesterday when they learnt that Michael Jordan didn't suffer any damage to his surgically repaired right knee after a clash with Pacers superstar Reggie Miller Tuesday night, but the All-Star is questionable for the teams' encounter with the Houston Rockets tonight.

Jordan missed yesterday's practice with a deep thigh bruise that left him stiff, and if he does miss the game with the Rockets it will be his first missed game of the season.  The Wizards are currently in a three-way battle for the eighth playoff spot with the Orlando Magic and the New York Knicks - the Wizards being on the outer meaning every game is crucial.

The game, however, will be a season debut for center Jahidi White, who will make his comeback despite not being 100% against man-mountain Yao Ming.

"I just expect to go out and play hard," said White. "Whatever I can do, whatever they ask me to do, whatever minutes they can give me. I'll accept anything. I'm just happy to be back in a uniform."

Jordan has been averaging 33 points per game over the past three games and his play down the stretch has seen the Wizards more dependant on him than they would have liked, especially with fellow starter Larry Hughes also out injured, writes Steve Wyche of the Washington Post.  Leading scorer Jerry Stackhouse has also struggled since missing five games with groin problems.

"We can ill afford to lose Michael right now at this stretch," Wizards Coach Doug Collins said.

Jordan began treatment on the leg immediately after the game against the Pacers, and the Wizards are hoping that this makes all the difference.

"You never know how a muscle is going to respond, how long a time it's going to take to heal," Collins said. "Let's hope that with [yesterday's] rest and treatment and then again [today] he will be able to go."

Michael and Reggie.

Reggie and Michael.

Was there a memo? Is it 1998 all over again?

There was Michael Jordan, backing down defenders, hitting that vintage fall-away jumper from every conceivable angle. There was Reggie Miller, one of the few guys who showed up for the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night, demanding the basketball in the fourth quarter and knocking down those lethal 3-pointers.

Did we miss something? Was it Retro Night at Conseco Fieldhouse?

This was supposed to be a night to honor Jordan. As the game wore on, though, it turned into a night to marvel at two great players, two transcendent athletes who have brought out the excellence in one another for so many years.

One is 40 years old. One is 37 years old. And yet, in this, a dog-day regular-season game late in February when younger players are wearing down, Jordan and Miller embraced the moment and somehow raised an otherwise hideous game into something resembling compelling theater.

Too old? Too diminished?

Not Michael. Not Reggie. Not when there are still games to be won, still memories to be made.

According to an article in the Washington Post forward-center Etan Thomas could be lost for the season after a fracture was discovered in the orbital bone in his left eye.  

"Etan is going to a see a doctor next week, and if the double vision has gone away then he will be out just two weeks," coach Doug Collins said. "If not he would likely have surgery and then be out for at least six weeks."

It is believed that Thomas will soon be placed on the injured reserve while Jahidi White, who is still no where near 100% after offseason knee surgery, is expected to be activated and suit up.  White has yet to play this season.

"I don't know how effective Jahidi will be," Collins said, "but I know he wants to play. We'll just have to see."

"First Jared and now Etan. And of course Jahidi for most of the season," Collins said. "It's really disappointing."

Michael Jordan scored 25 points and Tyronn Lue added 18 points and 11 assists as the Washington Wizards beat the Indiana Pacers 83-78 Tuesday night.
The Pacers have lost five straight games -- their longest skid of the season -- and eight of 12.
Reggie Miller led them with 25.

As the season winds down towards the business end each game is becoming more and more important.  Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards currently reside in ninth place in the East with only the top eight going to the postseason, and with the team delicately trying to balance youth (future) and veterans (present), NBA statesman Charles Oakley believes it is time for the team to simply win.

"This late in the season guys on this team want to play and coach [Doug Collins] wants to play them, but it's time we got to win," said Oakley. "It ain't about keeping guys happy. If they ain't happy this late in the season and don't understand what's going on, they really shouldn't be on the court. We've been patient all year with them. I've been patient with everything -- management, coaches, players -- but I want to play. I think I took my time eating my soup, the soup is gone. Now it's time for the main course. The appetizers, throw them out the window."

Washington have 27 games remaining but sit three games under .500, and with the surging Orlando Magic just ahead of them in eighth place in the East each game could be vital to their cause if they want to send Michael Jordan away having taken the team into the postseason.  The Wizards missed out last year, Jordan's first with the Wizards, after Jordan's season was cut short with a knee injury.  It was the first time in his career he had failed to make the playoffs.

"A lot of guys, that's the problem; they want numbers because they think they're going to be on the court more or get more recognition," Oakley said. "Ain't but two guys on this team that are going to get recognition, that's Mike and Stack [Jerry Stackhouse]. Just get in the game and do what you do best and the people who understand basketball will know what you do."

"Guys have the attitude today that you've got to score to get noticed. Just play your role. It's like being in a band. Sometimes you have two singers, backup singers and instruments. You play your part and the band sounds good and everybody gets credit."

"I'm just keeping it real."

Coach Doug Collins said that the Wizard's younger players will not stop getting opportunities, but they also will not be allowed to simply occupy space.

"I'm always going to give Kwame the first shot," Collins said, whom Washington Post writer Steve Wyche quickly pointed out played just six minutes in the loss to Dallas on Sunday. "If he's struggling to get it going, I'll go to Oak or whoever else is on the bench. We're sort of at the time right now if guys are struggling I just can't leave them out there because every game is so critical. That doesn't mean guys can't make mistakes, but when we go out there we've got to be pretty much in sync with what we've got to do."

Brown said he understands the stakes.

"I don't want to make a mistake, but I'm making mistakes anyway so I need to just go out play hard, make hustle plays and hopefully that will keep me on the floor," Brown said.

Steve Wyche of the Washington Post reports: Michael Jordan made history again last night.

In Washington's 89-86 win over the New Jersey Nets, Jordan scored 43 points to become the  first 40-year-old NBA player to score 40 points in a game.

"It didn't dawn on me -- the first 40-year-old to drop 40," said Jordan, whose birthday was Monday. "I read it on the stat sheet and I thought it was a misprint. Either way, we needed this game. I set the tone early that I wanted to come out and win this game. It was a big game for us to get in the playoff race."

The win pulled the Wizards within percentage points of the Orlando Magic for the East's 8th and final playoff spot.

Steve Wyche of the Washington Post reports: Yesterday, trade talks increased but don't expect much from the Washington Wizards before today's 3 p.m. trading deadline.

"Unless something drastically changes, I don't think anything is going to happen," Wizards Coach Doug Collins said before tonight's game with the Hornets.

According to a source, most of the proposals involving the Wizards are far-fetched.

Josh Barr of the Washington Post reports: A massive snowstorm that is pounding the northeast has caused an NBA game to be postponed.

That game is tonight's game between the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors at MCI Center.

The game has been rescheduled for March 4 at 7 p.m. Because the game was to be played on Michael Jordan's 40th birthday and broadcast by ESPN, no decision was made until after 6 p.m. yesterday. But with the severe weather restricting travel and the Raptors still in Toronto after their 99-97 victory over the Magic, the league announced the postponement.

John Mitchell of the Washington Times reports: The Washington Wizards are coming off of one of their worst losses of the season, aa 109-77 loss at Utah, they might be looking at a deal but it's unlikely two of their young bigman will be sent packing.

A league source said most of the trade interest throughout the league is in forwards Kwame Brown and Etan Thomas. However, a team source called a deal involving those two "possible but not likely."

Michael Jordan's last game in Utah before tonight was, at the time, a fitting finish that left an indelible memory to basketball fans: the Shot, the Championship, the End.

However, that 1998 classic -- Game 6 of the NBA Finals, when Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls -- did not turn out to be his final game nor his last contest here.