Jordan struggles to find the proper touch with Wizards

WASHINGTON -- Michael Jordan isn't sure what to do or when to do it.

He's trying to rediscover his shooting touch and still be a team player. At times he tries to take over a game, and at others he forces the inexperienced Washington Wizards around him to become more involved so they can learn.

Seven games into his latest comeback, Jordan is averaging 24.1 points a game, while shooting just 38 percent from the field. The Wizards have lost four straight to fall to 2-5, and the last two losses -- both at home -- featured a tentative Jordan and a lack of effort from the rest of the team.

"It's frustrating," said Jordan, who hadn't lost four in a row in the same season since February 1990.

"I'm doing everything to try to smile to get ourselves through this."

Jordan was 13-for-30 and scored 32 points in Friday night's 109-100 loss to Golden State, then missed his first 14 shots before finishing 5-for-26 with 16 points in Sunday's 99-84 loss to Seattle.

In both games, the 38-year-old Jordan didn't start making his shots until the game was essentially over in the second half. In the Golden State loss, he got so angry he shot every time down the court just to see if he could find his rhythm. It worked, but that's the kind of streak that's tough to bottle up and save for later.

"I'm trying to take my shots in the rhythm of the offense whenever I feel it's a good shot or one the team expects me to shoot," Jordan said. "A lot of times I had those shots and I missed. That's frustrating. I got frustrated in the third quarter. I felt everything was so stagnant. Then somehow I hit my shot.

"I haven't been shooting with the rhythm and confidence, and that bothers me. I think it's going to take a little bit longer. I'm working on that. I know exactly what I'm doing wrong. It's just getting into a rhythm."

It was a similar story against Seattle. Jordan was woefully short on his jump shots, double-clutched when left open and missed an alley-oop layup to start 0-for-14. When he finally made a shot -- a simple layup -- Jordan shook his head and smiled as he ran down the court. With the pressure off and the Wizards trailing by double digits, he relaxed and made a few baskets in the fourth quarter.

Afterward, he said he was thinking too much.

"You miss a few and it starts working on you mentally... and that's the worst way to go to try to come out of a shooting slump," Jordan said.

Before the season began, Jordan fans feared that even one of the greatest players ever might not be immune to the Wizards' malaise that has sucked in so many others in the last decade. After seven games, that is already the trend.