Washington puts in another attrocious showing in New York; Hamilton doesn't play, listed as day-to-day.

Michael Jordan powers up a scoop shot through two Knick defenders.

by Fred Schiebel, Head Writer

NEW YORK -- They may have returned the favor and blown out the Knicks in Washington, but the results were very much the same back on their enemy's turf as they were in the season opener.

The Knicks easily trounced the Wizards again last night, 90-79, back in good ol' New York City. It wasn't another Madison Square Garden Massacre, but in some ways Washington upped the horrific play they displayed then, despite not letting the game get as out of hand. Michael Jordan scored more (28 points), but still didn't have what most would consider an exceptional outing, as he struggled to find the basket most of the night, like the rest of his teammates.

"It's nights like these that make you wonder what the heck you're doing," coach Doug Collins said. "At the moment, I'd rather have a career serving french fries."

Did the loss of Richard Hamilton (17.1 points per game), who strained his groin last game, have something to do with the dismal showing?

"Personally I think so, yes," Jordan said. "When it happened [Hamilton's groin injury] against Orlando, we got by mostly on adrenaline. We've had a day to sit back and wonder, which is also not enough time to really prepare any kind of new offensive strategy to get us by. Going out there and not having him with us at all, we could feel the hole."

It sure looked huge. The Knicks left the Wizards in the dust immediately after tipoff, going on a 9-0 run to start the game. Washington found themselves down by fourteen at the end of the first quarter, scoring a meager ten points as a team and converting a scant 21 percent of their field goal attempts. Jordan looked particuarly fatigued, hitting only one of seven of his shots. Hubert Davis -- Hamilton's replacement in the starting lineup -- led the Wizards with six points, but made only 3 of 10 himself. Starting Knicks point guard Mark Jackson took over most of the scoring while still being the main playmaker, finishing the period with nine points and three assists.

"We just couldn't put together anything at all," coach Doug Collins said. "We tried all sorts of approaches, and they all bombed."

Things did not improve, as the Knicks extended their lead to fifteen in the second quarter. Washington upped its field goal percentage mark to an only slightly better 27 percent -- scoring a mere 25 points before halftime. Luckily, the Wizard defense held the Knicks offense to 25 percent accuracy in the period, keeping them from being the victim of a complete blowout. Jordan had ten points on 4 of 15 shooting, while Davis missed all three of his attempts in the second stanza. Jordan held star guard Latrell Sprewell to an even worse 3 of 14 mark.

"It wasn't the playing a back-to-back that tired me so much as trying to focus my defense on stopping him [Sprewell]," Jordan said. "I had to make sure he stayed cold so we could stay in the hunt."

Washington came out refreshed in the third, and their offense began rolling, hitting 67 percent from the field as a team. Unfortunately the Knicks hit 47 percent, good enough to keep them up by thirteen, 62-49. Jordan had ten points, looking as if he was about to take over just like he used to in his Bulls days.

He tried his best, even talking Doug Collins into putting him in at the start of the fourth quarter to try and make a serious run. With about five minutes left he got the Wizards within striking distance once more after scoring a layup and swishing two free throws to cut the deficit to ten, 73-63. With another swishing fadeaway narrowing the lead to eight, suddenly somehow the Wizards attrocious showing looked like it could possibly generate a win. A New York rally began not long after however, and the Knicks easily held on to get only their second win in nine games.

"We've been struggling, so maybe this is a good sign," Jackson said. "We didn't play our A-game tonight either, but we still won."

Jordan ended up playing 40 minutes, but did not not look all that worse for wear in the final period,. hitting three of his six shot attempts in the last twelve minutes. Hubert Davis finished with 19 points, Tyronn Lue came off the bench to chip in 18.

Jackson led the Knicks with 21 points and eight assists. Latrell Sprewell scored 20, but missed 20 of 29 shots.