MILWAUKEE (REUTERS) — The Milwaukee Bucks might be the only ones glad to see Michael Jordan’s season end early.
Glenn Robinson tied his season high with 38 points as the freefalling Bucks beat the Washington Wizards 105-90 Wednesday night, hours after Jordan went on the disabled list with a swollen right knee.
Jordan had scored 34 points in just 26 minutes the last time these teams met, a 107-98 Wizards’ victory March 29.
It was his best post-return performance since Jordan returned from arthroscopic surgery two weeks ago.
Jordan rushed his rehabilitation from the arthroscopic surgery Feb. 27 that repaired torn cartilage in the knee. He missed just 12 games and was a reserve in all seven games after he came back.
But he played a career-low 12 minutes and scored a career-low two points in Tuesday night’s 113-93 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Jordan traveled to Milwaukee after the game but flew home Wednesday after deciding he couldn’t play any longer on the balky knee.
Bucks coach George Karl called it just about the first break the Bucks had gotten all season.
And they wasted no time in taking advantage of Jordan’s absence but once again failed to put an inferior team away before the closing minutes.
Sam Cassell (19 points, 12 assists) scored nine points in a 20-0 run the Bucks used to take a 31-16 lead in the first quarter, and Robinson had 22 points by halftime as the Bucks built a 55-37 lead.
They led by 24 before the Wizards cut it to eight in the third quarter. Behind an 11-0 run, the Wizards pulled to 76-68. But Anthony Mason’s three-point play gave Milwaukee a 79-68 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Courtney Alexander led Washington with 22 points. Richard Hamilton scored 20 but was ejected after shoving Darvin Ham, who had just dunked twice, with 3:01 left and the Bucks ahead 97-82.
Milwaukee won for just the fifth time in 15 games.
Karl is doing his best to exude an air of optimism, declaring that his injury-riddled and maddeningly inconsistent team still has a long playoff run in them despite having frittered away any homecourt advantage.
“I still feel if we scrap, we can scrape out a (road) game in the first round and then go on and do what we did last year,” Karl said.
The Bucks were expected to challenge for the conference crown this season after taking Philadelphia to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals last summer.
The Wizards’ hopes of a playoff berth might have gone down with Jordan. And some of his teammates wonder whether Jordan has played his last NBA game.
“I would love to have him back,” Christian Laettner said. “But he has to do whatever his knees tell him.”
