Chicago ? The good times and the memories are easier to forget when he’s away.

But when Michael Jordan returns to the United Center, sees his fans and hears those thunderous ovations, even he longs for the old days with the Chicago Bulls.

“When I’m not around here, my mind is focusing on representing my franchise. Anytime I step in this building, it’s tough to see me not in red and white,” Jordan said Thursday night after his second trip to Chicago as a visitor, yet another emotional homecoming.

“Tonight was different.”

And yet, oh, so similar. The United Center was rocking, and Jordan and his trusty sidekicks embarrassed yet another opponent. Only this time, Jordan was helping humiliate the Bulls as the Washington Wizards ran away with a 107-82 victory.

The game was so out of hand Jordan didn’t even play in the fourth quarter — much to the dismay of the fans. Most left after the third quarter, and the few who stuck it out spent the final minutes of the game chanting “We want Mike! We want Mike!”

“I hate to beat Bill’s team the way we beat them, but that’s part of the job,” Jordan said, referring to Bulls coach Bill Cartwright, his teammate on Chicago’s first three championship teams.

“I think sometimes it’s a hard thing for (the Bulls) to live up to, to get that type of respect over the time they’ve played. Maybe they are nervous and do too much.”

Washington's Michael Jordan, left, pulls up for a jump shot as Chicago's Jay Williams defends. The Wizards defeated the Bulls, 107-82, Thursday night in Chicago.

Jordan also had five assists and five rebounds in 30 minutes, a relatively quiet night for the man who once scored 69 in a game. But it was far better than his first homecoming last January, when he had a career-high nine turnovers and was just 7-of-21 from the floor for 16 points.

Jerry Stackhouse led the Wizards with 28 points, and Kwame Brown had 20 before being ejected with 1:19 left to play.

Jalen Rose led the Bulls with 26 points, but shadowed by Jordan most of the night, he shot just 10-of-25.

“I was going to make sure Jalen Rose didn’t score while I was out there,” Jordan said with a smile.

The game was never really in doubt after the first quarter. Leading by 1, Jordan made a fallaway jumper to spark a 12-2 run that gave Washington a 26-15 lead with 1:48 to play in the first.

Mavericks 102, Clippers 92

Dallas — Steve Nash scored 24 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points and 10 rebounds as Dallas beat Los Angeles. Michael Finley also had 20 points for the Mavericks, who held off a late Clippers charge to improve to 15-2 at home and a league-best 26-5 overall.

Dallas won for the seventh time in nine games despite going 1-for-11 from three-point range, their fewest three-pointers in a game this season.

Suns 96, 76ers 78

Phoenix — Shawn Marion scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half as Phoenix won its seventh straight home game. Rookie Amare Stoudemire, coming off a 38-point performance Monday night at Minnesota, added 20 points and 11 rebounds.