Wizards counting on a home remedy

The Washington Wizards watched the Bulls take advantage of theirhome court and thousands of fans who were thirsty for playoffbasketball. Now they hope to regroup after a 113-103 loss in Game 2on Wednesday and turn the tables when the first-round series travelsto Washington for Game 3 on Saturday.

Chicago did what they had to do," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said.They held home-court. I told my guys only one thing is guaranteed inthe playoffs: they get two, and we get two. Let's see if we can godown and hold home-court."

The Bulls lost both games at the MCI Center this season, andJordan brought up the United Center atmosphere several times whentalking about his young team getting acclimated to the postseasonenvironment. The Wizards were 29-12 at home this season, and Jordanbelieves that could make the difference.

We are prepared enough," Jordan said. Once we get on the floor andhave a comfort level and the crowd generates electricity in the air,that is going to help us. We played very well at home most of theyear. We have come back from double-digit deficits in the fourthquarter. Their crowd got rolling and they got back in the game."

The United Center crowd was enthusiastic once again Wednesday,cheering on forward Andres Nocioni, the star of Game 1, and guardKirk Hinrich, the star of Game 2. When Washington's Antawn Jamisonappeared to push Nocioni late in the game, the fans showed theirdisgust. But Jamison did not recall the play after the game.

I have no idea what you're talking about," Jamison said. Maybe itwas a flop, but it wasn't a push."

And Nocioni did not want to fan any flames in a series thatalready has seen a number of heated words, saying, I don't want totalk. It's nothing. I want to say nothing. I think it's a foul, butit's nothing more. Maybe it's a foul. Maybe it's not."

While Jamison thinks the home court will help, he believes theWizards' biggest problem is they need to play better defense.

It should be a lot of excitement and atmosphere that hasn't beenin the D.C. area for a while," Jamison said. That should give usmomentum, but it all comes down to defending these guys and making itdifficult for these guys. At times we've known we had to step updefensively, and we did. Now we have to realize you can't do it for24 minutes. You have to do it for the full 48."

Jamison found it shocking that the Wizards gave up more than 100points to the Bulls and that the Bulls shot almost 49 percent fromthe floor.

Defensively, I don't know what that was tonight," Jamison said. Weknow exactly what they like to run, and they did it anyway. Theydon't shoot 48 percent. We cannot afford to let that happen."