Jordan Says Trouble Isn't 'Losing Habits'

Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan admitted that he's not sleeping very much or particularly well as he tries to help his team dig out of a 1-10 hole.

"You fall out," Jordan said with sense of gallows humor. "You fall out from fatigue and then you wake up in a sweat and then after that, you move on."

Moving on from Saturday's 122-117 loss to the Knicks will present Jordan with one of the biggest challenges of his coaching career.

Jordan has been able to overcome various challenges, particularly injuries to key players, to lead the Wizards to four straight playoff appearances. He's the longest tenured coach in the Eastern Conference largely because of his ability to handle the various ups and downs associated with coaching in the NBA, but never has a Jordan team started a season 1-10.

The one thing Jordan is hanging his hat on is the fact that his players have continued to give maximum effort. The Wizards haven't always played smart -- bad defensive rotations contributed to Saturday's defeat -- but they haven't showed any quit either, and players haven't started pointing fingers at one another or the coaching staff.

Jordan feels he can build on that.

"The thing we talked about the game is the same thing we talked about after the game: you didn't win the game but you don't have losing habits," Jordan said Saturday night. "We play hard and we are unselfish and we don't point fingers. We are accountable and we still have confidence that we can still go out and win games so, even though we are 1-10, we don't have losing habits and that's a good thing."

Up Next Tomorrow vs. Golden State 7 p.m. Comcast SportsNet, WTEM-980 Thursday vs. Orlando 8 p.m. TNT, WTEM-980