Jordan: Hawkins doesn't know how to play

Here's an exerpt from the Chronicle article:


"I just felt once we got (in overtime), I didn't want to lose the effort we gave all game," Jordan said. "I kind of exerted myself a little bit and ... I gave myself some energy and I made some big shots. I was going against a young kid that really didn't know how to play, tried a couple of flops that I kind of expected but didn't fall for and the referees didn't fall for."

 

Here's the whole article:

Jordan gives Rockets last dose of wizardry

Overtime heroics cap 35-point performance

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON -- The Rockets were living their childhood dreams. Fantasies were becoming real. For all the times they had imagined themselves going against Michael Jordan, measuring themselves against him at his most jaw-dropping, they were there, living it, matching him and pushing him and themselves to more.

But he still always has more. After all the times he has been there before, "thousands of times" Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said, of all the wonders he had performed, he had not exhausted his ability to amaze. In the final game the Rockets expect to ever play against him, Jordan would not allow them to beat him.

He played 50 minutes on a day his right thigh was thought to be too badly bruised to allow him to play at all. Jordan then scored 10 of his 35 points in overtime to carry the Wizards to a 100-98 win over the Rockets on Thursday.

"It was ridiculous," said Rockets forward Maurice Taylor, who found himself matched with Jordan in the overtime duel of his dreams. "He did what Michael Jordan does.

"You see games like this, and you wonder how the guy can keep going. He's just carrying the team. He's taking every shot, he's playing defense, he's taking the ball up. His drive is ridiculous. He was determined. He was to the point he didn't think anybody could stop him. And he kept going, kept pushing."

Jordan had a shot to win it at the regulation buzzer rim out. But with that, he seemed to find another level, tormenting Juaquin Hawkins with every variety of vintage move as if taping both parts of the Jordan vs. Jordan television commercial.

In overtime, he scored on an up-and-under move, nailed a turnaround jumper and caught Hawkins leaning to fly past him for a slam. Fighting for low-post position, Hawkins fell in the lane, allowing Jordan to hit another jumper. Finally, with 1:13 left, after taking his turnaround right throughout his late run, he turned left and drove at Yao Ming, as if to take on the biggest of the Rockets one time before his career was over.

Yao blocked the shot, but was called for goaltending, allowing the Wizards to lead 98-84 with 1:13 left in overtime.

"I couldn't believe it," Yao said. "I thought I had a block."

With the basket, Jordan had 35 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

"I just felt once we got (in overtime), I didn't want to lose the effort we gave all game," Jordan said. "I kind of exerted myself a little bit and ... I gave myself some energy and I made some big shots. I was going against a young kid that really didn't know how to play, tried a couple of flops that I kind of expected but didn't fall for and the referees didn't fall for."

Hawkins said he did not intentionally fall, but merely lost his balance in the low-post fight for position.

"It was kind of a questionable call," he said.

"I tried to make it harder for him to catch the ball, not let him catch the ball near the basket. He comes across the lane and he's so strong. He gets a lot of respect right now.

"The guy can go left, he can go right, he can pull up in your face, he can pump fake. He can do it all. You have to try to make it a little more difficult to catch it in his comfort zone and make him think a little more, with that and a lot of luck, hope he misses."

But while Jordan took over, so did Maurice Taylor. He had scored seven points down the stretch of regulation time before Cuttino Mobley took a pass from Steve Francis and nailed a 3-pointer, barely making the net move, to tie the game, 88-88, with 13.1 seconds left.

When Jordan gave the Wizards a four-point overtime lead, the Rockets went to Taylor on three consecutive possessions and Taylor scored on each touch, pulling the Rockets to within 100-98 with 29.5 seconds left.

"It felt good until the last shot he hit and he tapped me on my (butt)," Taylor, who made 10 of 12 shots for 23 points in 26 minutes, said. "He ran by and hit me on my (butt) like it's over."

Jerry Stackhouse swished a jumper forced to beat the shot-clock buzzer for another four-point lead with 34.1 seconds left. But Taylor needed less than five seconds to answer, scoring so quickly, Rockets coaches quickly canceled the plan to foul intentionally to opt to play defense and call for a time out.

The plan worked -- and then failed.

Jordan missed his last shot with 5.1 seconds left and Yao came down with the rebound. But rather than calling time out, Yao sent an outlet pass to Francis.

"It was something new for me," Yao said. "My first reaction was just to push the ball in that situation."

Francis, who had matched his worst shooting night of the season in making 1 of 13 attempts, never considered taking the time out, rushing the ball to the other 3-point line before he was cut off.

"Sometimes it happens like that," Francis said. "It was so fast, I couldn't even tell if there was enough time."

Once he ran out of time and room to drive, he left his feet and waited for help. Francis did get the ball to Mobley, but he had enough time only to fling a shot from 26 feet the smacked off the backboard at the buzzer.

 

I don't know if you saw it but Jordan was b****ing to the ref even after the game ended...you could see him motioning that Francis traveled on that last play before throwing it to Cat.