To the guy who threw the beer bottle onto the floor at the end of the Magic game Friday:

Hey, idiot, what did you expect?

OK, if you were like a lot of people, you expected the basketball event of the season. And it wasn't because Brendan Haywood was back in town.

Another Carolina grad was at TD Waterhouse. He looked like Michael Jordan. He sounded like Michael Jordan. From the way the Magic started, he cast the same spell as Michael Jordan.

"We looked at this game like it was Game 7 of the NBA Finals," Doc Rivers said.

He may look, sound and emit like Jordan, but this guy made three of 16 shots and scored 12 points in the Washington Wizards' 93-75 victory Friday night.

Save the box score, Troy Hudson. One day you can show your grandkids you outscored the greatest player who ever wagged a tongue.

Jordan didn't even jack one up in the final quarter. All that, and he called it a good night. That's because Jordan doesn't judge himself by his old standards, and neither should you.

We'd heard he was slower and more earthbound, but you had to see it for yourself to believe it.

Believe it. He could not be what he once was, but he could be pulling his greatest basketball act. One playoff berth by the Wizards is worth at least three Bulls titles.

Washington (13-12) won its eighth straight game and is above .500 for the first time since the British burned the White House. That statement sounds more momentous than the actual game.

"It was gorgeous," Rivers said.

He was kidding, which was a good sign. It's nice he can laugh about what has become of his team.

First Grant Hill crashes, then Tracy McGrady and now Mike Miller. The Magic played hard, but the crowd still was driven to utter dissatisfaction by 33 percent shooting.

The Wizards weren't much better, especially after their best player went out with a pulled groin in the first quarter. That would be Richard Hamilton, who doesn't have a shaved head or six NBA titles.

What he has is Jordan, who now considers himself a teacher. He realizes he no longer can be Superman nightly. Instead of bounding over tall buildings, he passes, directs and keeps the Wizards from derailing.

The problem is, teaching can be pretty boring. Friday had the feel of a trigonometry class, not an NBA Finals. But what did you expect given the names on the floor?

Take away Miller and Hamilton, which they did, and you'd get a CBA All-Star Game. And to think ABC is going to pay $1.6 billion for this?

At least it was close until Jordan re-entered the game with seven minutes left. Then the Wizards ran away as M.J. scored zero points on zero shots. He attracted all the attention, then was content to dish the ball.

"It has taken me a while to realize the guys have confidence in themselves," Jordan said. "I might as well have confidence in them, too."

Some nights he still will be Jordan. Other nights, he will be happy to teach and blend in. If you consider that a letdown, that's your problem.

At any rate, it's not worth throwing a beer bottle over. If police need any help catching that guy, they can eliminate at least one person.

It wasn't Jordan. If he'd have thrown the bottle, it would have missed the court.