Michael Jordan drives the lane for two of his 22 points.



By Fred Schiebel, Head Writer

ATLANTA - There was a time when Michael Jordan would bounce back from a bad or mediocre game with a jaw-dropping sublime one, harnessing a vengeful fury to produce a stormy flood of individual statistics.

In what might be a telling sign, he was unable to do so in game #2 of his second comeback. The Wizards lost their second in a row to the Hawks, 91-79, and it wasn't even that close when it mattered.

Jordan came out of the gates aggressive, appearing to be hunting hard for redemption for his team's blowout loss to the Knicks. On the first Wizards' possession he was fouled on a drive to hoop. The next  play he pump faked Hawks forward Dion Glover and drove past, pulling up at the free throw line for another two points.  From  the looks of things,  he appeared to be in old MJ revenge mode.

Sadly, he could not sustain it. He didn't make another basket in the period, ending the quarter 2 of 5 from  the field, turning the ball over twice. The Wizards as a whole shot 30 percent (6/20 FGs), finding themselves down by double digits to the Hawks, 25-14. Shareef Abdur-Rahim  and Jason Terry had eight points each, and Theo Ratliff added seven points and eight rebounds. Wizard guard Richard Hamilton once again had trouble locating his shot, hitting only one of his five attempts, and this time he was joined in his struggle by backup Courtney Alexander, one of the few bright spots in the opener, who missed all three of his jumpers.

As in New York, the Wizard subs cut down the lead in the beginning of the second period, to seven. But then former Bulls teammate Toni Kukoc came off the bench to bump the lead right back up to where it was, scoring a quick four points. Once again Jordan hit only two out of his fiveattemptss-- the damage compounded by Hamilton finishing the half one for seven, and Alexander only slightly better at a one for five clip. Meanwhile Atlanta's lead swelled to fourteen, 50-36.

The second half was deja vu all over again. Jordan came out hitting once more, a drive and a jumper. Unfortunately on his next two possessions he found himself swatted by Glover as he drove the lane, then was forced to take responsibility for another turnover as Jahidi White held the ball for an eon before passing the ball back to him, with only enough time left for Jordan to be credited with the 24 second shot clock violation. He glared at White all the way down the court.

"He can't do it alone, " Collins said. "Even in his prime that wasn't the case. He needs some help out there."

It was still Jordan's best quarter of the game, as he scored ten points, dominating for a tiny spurt. Hamilton also began to come out of his slump, hitting three of six  field goal attempts in the period. Somehow the Wizards still found themselves down by an even greater margin when the buzzer sounded, 71-54.

"They hit over 50 percent of their shots in the third, that's what killed us," Doug Collins said "We can't let teams score so easy," Dion Glover, who Jordan was guarding, was four of eight in those twelve minutes.

In the fourth period the Wizards were easily kept at a distance once again. Early on the Hawks extended their lead extended to 20, but Hamilton hit a couple more jumpers to cut into the deficit, prompting Jordan's early return to try and commandeer one last big run. For the second straight game he had no positive effect. In a short time the score was 80-60, and the game was ruptured open, the deficit ballooning to 25 at one point.

The Wizards may be bad, but it also appears as if luck isn't on their side as well. A perfect illustration of that happened when Chris Whitney stole the ball as he tightly pressured DeMarr Johnson on defense. The ball took a strange bounce of Johnson's shin, in the opposite direction that Whitney's momentum was carrying him. Johnson picked the ball back up and scored on a wide open jumper.

"That's kind of what happens when you get on a bad streak," Jordan said. "If you don't stop it, things take a life of their own."

The end of the game devolved into a sight that everybody feared - His Airness as sad sideshow circus attraction.  Jordan stayed in the game after it had long been decided, scoring meaningless points as the crowd's respectfully applauded.

"I left him  in there to get a better feel for his teammates, and them to get a better feel for him," Collins said. "He wanted to stay in and get some more shots up. He's still dealing with over three years of rust, you know."

Jordan finished with 22 points and a handful of turovers.   Hamilton had 15, shooting an ugly 6-17, a modest improvement over his 2-15 mark in the first game. The Hawks were lead by Shareef Abdur-Rahim's 25 points. Jason Terry added 20.

"Two losses in a row is not the end of the world," Jordan said. "We've just got to work harder and be smarter. If we do that things will take care of themselves."