The Charlotte Hornets found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time last night - in Michael Jordan's crosshairs on a night when he was on the prowl.

It was a night they'd just as soon forget, and a night a crowd of 20,674 at the MCI Center will long remember.

Bouncing back after scoring a career-low six points in a loss at Indiana on Thursday night, Jordan erupted for a season-high 51 as the Washington Wizards routed the Hornets 107-90.

It was a vintage performance by the man generally regarded to be the best player in NBA history, and it was far and away his best game since returning from a three-year layoff.

"He kinda went back in time on us tonight," forward P.J. Brown of the Hornets said.

"I knew he was going to come out and try to make a statement, because that's the way he is. That's the way he's always been. He's never going to have two bad games in a row like that. But 51, that's still hard to imagine."

Jordan scored the Wizards' first 13 points and 19 of their first 22. He had 24 by the end of the first quarter, 34 at halftime and 45 after three. He finished 21 of 38 from the field and nine of 10 from the free-throw line.

He entered the game averaging 22.7, which ranked him 12th in the league and well below his career scoring average of 31.7. He had gone just 2 of 10 from the field in 25 minutes in a 108-81 loss at Indiana on Thursday.

"I figured if I had another game like that you guys would start talking about how old I was," Jordan said. "So I wanted to make a statement tonight. But more important, I wanted to get back on the winning track. I felt like we were ready to get back on a winning streak again tonight."

The Wizards snapped a two-game losing streak, which started with a 99-93 loss at Charlotte on Wednesday night, and raised their record to 15-14. They won only 19 games last season.

The loss was the Hornets' second in two nights and dropped them to 13-17, four games under .500 for the first time all season. They have lost four of their last five and six of their past eight.

"It really was like we were in the wrong place at the wrong time," Coach Paul Silas of the Hornets said. "You knew he was going to have a big game, and once he got rolling, it was just impossible to stop him. We made the decision we weren't going to rotate and all that stuff, and then once he got that jumper going there was very little we could do."

The Hornets trailed only 56-51 at halftime despite Jordan's early eruption, and they seemed to be in good position to beat the Wizards for the third time this season if Jordan slowed down. But that didn't happen, and the Wizards pulled out to a 22-point lead midway through the third quarter thanks to a 24-7 run.

"We won the game in the third quarter," Jordan said. "As much as I had scored, we were only up five at halftime and so you had to be a little worried. But the guys started stepping up at that point and we played well."

Jordan set five Wizards or MCI Center records, but he didn't get the franchise scoring record of 56 set by Earl Monroe. The record for most points by a Hornets opponent continues to be 57 by Indiana's Reggie Miller.

Hubert Davis complemented Jordan with 21 points. Jamaal Magloire led the Hornets with 22 points, Brown had 17 points and eight rebounds, Elden Campbell scored 16, and Baron Davis scored 14.

Davis had sat out most of the second half in Friday night's 105-89 loss to Milwaukee because of a sore knee, and he was not expected to play last night. But he wound up playing 42 minutes, extending his streak of consecutive games to 194. He has not missed a game in his three-year NBA career.

The Hornets will now be off until Thursday, when they will play the Golden State Warriors to open a five-game homestand.