Michael Jordan received a message that his mother, Deloris Jordan, was in the hospital at halftime of the Minnesota Timberwolves' 99-95 victory over the Bulls Tuesday night at the Target Center.

It turned out to be a hoax, although a visibly shaken Jordan didn't return to the bench for the start of the second half as he tried to find out if the information was true.

"It was one of those things that you don't want to let fall by the wayside," Jordan said after the Bulls' first-ever loss to Minnesota ended their season-best eight-game winning streak. "Anything can happen. It turned out to be a hoax. Fortunately, it was that. It's one of those things that you have to just grin and bear it."

Jordan didn't want to give details about how he received the message or even where his mother was Tuesday. But Bulls coach Phil Jackson said a call was made to the Target Center switchboard and a security guard approached Jordan as the team was leaving the floor at halftime.

"We were a little bit in disarray because we had either a prank call or hoax," Jackson said. "Somebody notified Michael that his mother was in the hospital, so he spent some time at the phone trying to verify it, even though it wasn't true. So he got out there with about seven minutes to go and that changed the start of the period."

Jordan had scored 17 first-half points on 7-of-14 shooting, which was enough to give him an NBA-record 788 consecutive games scoring in double figures. Although he ended with a game-high 33 points, Jordan was 0 for 5 from the field in the third quarter, scoring just four points on free throws, as Stephon Marbury led the Timberwolves back into the game. Jordan shot 4 for 9 in the fourth quarter.

"It took the rhythm away from him," Jackson said of the phone call. "He was going pretty good the first half."

Jordan, whose father was murdered by roadside robbers after the Bulls' third championship in 1993, acknowledged that his mind wasn't on basketball as he tried to find out about his mother.

"It was tough focusing," he said. "The game didn't really have the same meaning after that. I really didn't know. There were really a lot of unknown questions there. Fortunately, it was a hoax and you don't want to give it too much credence. It's just one of those things you have to deal with."

Dennis Rodman said Jordan dealt with it about as well as he could.

"It was a hoax," Rodman said. "Somebody gave him a fake number or something. That's kind of (messed) up. Even if he was affected by it I think he would still go out and play. Maybe he was still worried about what was going on, but I don't think it was a big deal, since it was more of a hoax."