Jordan Sticks to the Plan

Eddie Jordan isn't one of those coaches who lives in a cave, without any idea of what's going on around him. He's not going to tell you he doesn't watch TV, doesn't hear what people are talking about. So when the Washington Wizards started the season 0-5, Jordan was acutely aware he was taking most of the blame. It was thought in quite a few NBA circles that the Wizards needed to have a decent November/December or Jordan, the longest-tenured coach in the Eastern Conference, might be looking at losing his tenure.

"I did hear it, and it motivated me even more," Jordan said last night. "We're competitors, even as coaches. And what you do is just bear down. You concentrate with all your resources on the game in its purest form and ask yourself, 'What exactly do you believe in,' and you do it. It's not about experimenting or finding something new or different. I know at 0-5 people were saying hire this guy and hire that guy and they need a defensive coach. But we're 0-5 and I said to my [assistants], 'Listen, we've got to do what I really believe in.' "

What Jordan was convinced of was that this group of players, first with Gilbert Arenas and then without him, knew how to play a brand of offense that could lead to the Wizards getting on a roll. He was right. Even with last night's loss at home to Chicago, the Wizards are 10-6 in games played without Arenas. They've won 13 of their last 19. They're 6-2 in December. And they've done it mostly with the players running Jordan's offense to a "T," as in textbook. At least until last night, when a 4-for-34 shooting stretch nullified a fast start and sabotaged a four-game winning streak. The 95-84 loss to the Bulls was Exhibit A as to how the Wizards are going to struggle when they don't shoot well, especially during the absence of their steadiest playmaker, the injured Antonio Daniels.

Still, the Wizards have recovered remarkably since the 0-5 start and it's Jordan who should be praised, especially for getting the team to 13-11 with the franchise player largely unavailable.

Losing your best player in the NBA almost always is torture, but hasn't been so far for the Wizards. Jordan has been able to get his players to excel at what they do best -- score -- at a time when the NBA has put a premium on offense.

"Everybody spent the offseason and the early season talking about defense, and I understand that," Jordan said. "I believe in defense to the bone. I played on teams that played great defense. I coached on a team in New Jersey that went to the Finals twice and played defense. But we know the strengths and weaknesses of this personnel and how to play a certain way.

"Yes, we have to have a commitment to defense, and in the preseason we talked defense, thought defense. Everybody knows it was defense, defense, defense. But at 0-5 it was time we got back to what we knew we could do well."

It struck Jordan that "the conversation of the league was about offense." He read that the Rockets, under new coach Rick Adelman, were concerned about getting Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in a better offensive flow. Jordan read quotes from Dwyane Wade talking about what he and Shaq would have to do differently on offense to have the kind of success the Heat was accustomed to having. Jordan read that the Lakers figured they needed to score 105 or so a game to climb in the Western Conference standings.

There were reminders everywhere about offense, even when Jordan was watching the Colts and Patriots in NFL games.

"I said to the guys, 'Wow, is this a trend, or are we ahead of the game?' " Jordan recalled.

The plan for recovery still included trying to play better defense -- and the Wizards are middle of the pack in most of the important defensive categories, which is better than the last couple of years, when they were near the bottom -- but obsessing over being as good as they can possibly be on offense.

Asked if the players responded, Jordan said: "Yes, we did feel better. You find something that's good to you. Antawn [Jamison] can score. We can run some pick-and-rolls for Antonio . . ." Jordan ran through specific things each player can contribute offensively. With Arenas injured, there's no Washington player who even tries to consistently break down an offense.