Rather than going in, though, the ball hit the front rim and missed -- one of several of his shots that came up a few centimeters short.
One of the exceptions was Jordan's final shot of the first half -- a one-handed dunk that came after he received a nice pass under the basket from Bobby Simmons.
Jordan hit his first two shots of the third quarter but didn't do much else positive in the period. On an alley-oop pass from Tyronn Lue, the ball hit him in the fingertips and bounced harmlessly away. A lazy cross-court pass was picked off by Aaron McKie, leading to one of Philadelphia's 31 fast-break points. Jordan's final field-goal attempt was a missed layup with 8:13 remaining.
``I'm not embarrassed,'' Jordan said, ``but it's just not ... I've had better feelings in terms of playing a competitive game.''
Allen Iverson scored 35 points as the Sixers got home-court advantage in the playoffs first round.
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