ATLANTA -- This is why Michael Jordan came back. No, it wasn´t for a chance to fly through the air with his tongue wagging. No, it wasn´t to receive the adulation of a record crowd.
Jordan returned to the NBA for that feeling he got when he walked off the court, slapping hands with his teammates and reveling in a victory.
Jordan, looking more like His Airness than His Oldness, scored 31 points Thursday night and led the Washington Wizards to their first victory of the MJ era, 98-88 over the Atlanta Hawks.
"We don´t want to be the doormats of everybody in the league," Jordan said, knowing the Wizards were just that when he was in the front office rather than the court. "It´s going to continue to get better as long as everybody understands the passion it takes."
While the legs aren´t quite what they were during the glory years, make no mistake: Jordan still has the fire.
He resisted the urge to come out for a rest at the end of the third period, finally conceding to the wishes of coach Doug Collins. But the 38-year-old Jordan nearly went the distance in the final period, finishing with 40 minutes in all -- more than anyone else on the court.
"I don´t know if I can play 40 minutes every night," he said. "But these guys have to know what it´s about. It´s not about getting on TV and getting tickets for your relatives."
After being held to 19 points in his return two nights earlier, Jordan mustered some vintage moves and a dunk out of his 38-year-old body and refused to let the young Wizards falter down the stretch.
The teams managed only three baskets in the final three minutes, but one of them -- the clinching play -- involved Jordan. He drew a double-team 12 feet from the basket and passed to an open Chris Whitney, who sank a 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining to give the Wizards a 93-86 lead.
Jordan finally came out with 9.6 seconds remaining, the victory assured. He shot only 13-of-30 and threw up some certified bricks, but also had six rebounds, six assists, two steals and only one turnover.
"He looked good," Atlanta´s Shareef Abdur-Rahim said. "I mean, I think everybody knows he can play."
Doing his part to help the economy, Jordan helped draw a crowd of 20,072, the largest ever to see a sporting event at 3-year-old Philips Arena.
It´s not the first time Jordan has played before a big crowd to Atlanta, normally one of the league´s weakest-drawing teams. In 1998, with reports swirling of his second retirement, Jordan and the Bulls played before 62,046 at the Georgia Dome -- the largest crowd in NBA history.
Jordan scored as many points in the first half -- 19 -- as he did in the opener against the Knicks, when he shot 7-of-21 and missed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds that would have tied the game.
This time, there were glimpses of the classic Jordan.
Midway through the first quarter, he missed a jumper, but the Wizards corralled the loose ball and Whitney fired a pass to Jordan breaking loose under the basket. He flew through the air for the dunk, pumping his fist as he landed while flashbulbs went off throughout the arena.
Early in the fourth, he brought the crowd to its feet again when he blew past Chris Crawford off the dribble, flew by Jason Terry along the baseline and flipped in a shot with his right hand over Nazr Mohammed.
Other times, Jordan showed his age. On consecutive possessions in the final period, he barely grazed the glass on a drive from the left side, then hit the side of the backboard with a 15-foot jumper over Crawford.
Jordan also filled his role of mentor and player-coach. Christian Laettner got a pat on the rump after a nice play, but Tyronn Lue got an earful after failing to get back on defense, allowing Dion Glover to go in for a breakaway dunk.
The Hawks gave several players a chance to guard Jordan.
Emanual Davis didn´t have much success. Glover, a third-year player, matched up against childhood idol. Toni Kukoc -- Jordan´s teammate from the glory years in Chicago -- found himself face-to-face with No. 23 a few times. Crawford handled the duties in the final period.
"Michael gets a lot of attention," Terry said. "You have to guard him. You have to send a guy at him. I think what the Wizards did was their role players tonight made the shot when they needed to. When they were open, they nailed it."
Terry led the Hawks with 23 points, but this supposedly improved team dropped to 0-2. Atlanta shot only 42 percent from the field (36-of-86) and created few offensive chances, managing just eight assists.
As for the Wizards, things are looking up.
"If they can play like that the rest of the season," Terry said, "they´ll be a good team."
Notes: The Atlanta Braves were well represented with both current (Andruw Jones, John Smoltz) and former (Otis Nixon, Kenny Lofton) players. ... More stargazing: Chris Tucker, star of the "Rush Hour" movies, watched from a courtside seat. ... Dominique Wilkins, a former Hawks star who now works in the team´s front office, joked that he´s like another chance to go 1-on-1 with Jordan. His Airness chuckled at the suggestion, pointing out Wilkins´ expanding waistline. "He looks like I did a few months ago," Jordan said.
