Jordan Shows His Old Side

Michael Jordan’s season-high 45 points alone weren’t enough. He needed help, and he finally got it in the fourth quarter.

With starters Jerry Stackhouse and Larry Hughes injured, Jordan carried the Washington Wizards on his shoulders from the opening whistle and rested only four minutes in Saturday night’s 109-104 victory over the New Orleans Hornets at Washington.

“With two key starters out, I had to step my game up early -- just to get some momentum,” Jordan said. “My offense ignited everything energy-wise, and the guys fed off me. I was going to try to pull anybody along with me as much as I could.

“In the second half, things changed. The first half was me; the second half was everybody.”

Jordan, who turns 40 this month, was 18 for 33 from the field, nine for 10 from the free-throw line. His 44 minutes were his most in regulation this season and second only to the 53 he played in a double-overtime game against Indiana. The only time he sat -- a four-minute stretch in the second quarter -- the Hornets went on a 14-4 to take their first lead.

“Everybody talks about his age and everything,” said Jamal Mashburn, who led the Hornets with a season-high 39 points. “The guy still can play. You don’t get 30,000-plus points without knowing how to play.”

The Wizards, however, trailed 82-76 after three quarters when Jordan got some help as the Washington went on a 19-4 run.

Rookie Juan Dixon made a big three-point basket and converted a steal into a layup. Kwame Brown had four rebounds in the quarter and a huge block on a drive by David Wesley. Tyronn Lue scored six points, and Etan Thomas bruised the opposition with his inside play.

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Detroit 106, New Jersey 84 -- Chauncey Billups scored 27 points, including 20 in the first quarter, and the Pistons built an early lead and maintained it at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Kenyon Martin tied his season high with 29 points for the Nets, who had won four straight.

Detroit center Ben Wallace left the game at halftime after learning that his mother had been taken to an Alabama hospital, where she later died.

Wallace, who will start for the East in the All-Star game, tied a team record with seven blocks in the first half. He also grabbed seven rebounds and scored two points.

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Indiana 109, Boston 100 -- Jermaine O’Neal, Brad Miller and Reggie Miller all had double-doubles and the Pacers won at Indianapolis.

O’Neal had 33 points and 11 rebounds, Brad Miller had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Reggie Miller had 14 and 10.

O’Neal, who made 13 of 14 free throws, helped seal the victory by converting a three-point play to make it 109-97 with less than a minute left.

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San Antonio 67, Miami 65 -- Tony Parker made one of two free throws with 18 seconds left and the Spurs won at Miami in a game in which the teams combine for the ninth-fewest points since the 24-second shot clock was introduced in 1954.

Travis Best missed a three-point shot for Miami and Caron Butler missed a jumper inside the free-throw line in the final 18 seconds.

Tim Duncan scored 17 points and grabbed a career-best 25 rebounds for San Antonio.

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Dallas 122, Denver 100 -- Nick Van Exel had a season-high 30 points, including five three-pointers in the third quarter at Dallas, and Michael Finley had 22 points as the Mavericks shook off a sluggish start.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 20 points and Shawn Bradley had 12 points and nine rebounds to help Dallas improve to 21-3 at home and a league-best 37-9 overall.

Dallas outscored the Nuggets, 40-16, in the third quarter, its second-highest scoring quarter of the season behind a 42-point effort against the Clippers on Dec. 10.

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Milwaukee 107, New York 100 -- Sam Cassell scored 24 points and Anthony Mason matched a season high with 13 rebounds at Milwaukee to lead the Bucks to their 10th victory in 12 games.

Milwaukee is two games over .500 for the first time this season, a streak that coincides with the return of Toni Kukoc, who was out 18 games after hand surgery.

The Bucks are 18-10 with Kukoc and 6-12 without him.

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Phoenix 116, Golden State 107 -- Stephon Marbury scored 32 points and Shawn Marion had 29 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Suns to a season-high point total at Phoenix.

The two All-Stars took charge in the fourth quarter, combining to score 14 of the Suns’ last 16 points, including eight straight by Marion.

Rookies Amare Stoudemire and Casey Jacobsen had 15 and 12 points, respectively, for the Suns.

Gilbert Arenas scored 19 points in the fourth quarter and topped the Warriors with 26.

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Seattle 90, Chicago 77 -- Rashard Lewis scored 23 points and Desmond Mason had 20 points in a rare starting appearance, leading the SuperSonics at Seattle.

Gary Payton had 20 points and eight assists for Seattle, which has won three of its last four.

The SuperSonics have promoted Mason for the league’s Sixth Man award this season. But he looked quite comfortable in his ninth start, making seven of 12 shots and collecting eight rebounds.

Chicago dropped to an NBA-worst 2-23 on the road.