DATE: Monday, May 12, 1997                  TAG: 9705120168

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   61 lines

BULLS SHOW THEY'RE NOT RIPE FOR AN UPSET

With the Chicago Bulls now comfortably ahead, 3-1, in their playoff series with the Atlanta Hawks, what are the people who follow the NBA going to talk about?

Removed from discussion, at least for the time being, is the theory that the Bulls are ripe for an upset.

That was a good one, wasn't it. The Hawks upset the Bulls? Who sets the agenda for the nation's sports media, Jane Fonda?

More is yet to come as the playoffs drag on and on into June, but did the Bulls look troubled in Atlanta? Listless? Old? Complacent? Did they look threatened?

How considerate of the Bulls to appear, for them, so lackluster, early in the playoffs, actually dropping a game to the Hawks in Chicago, thus creating a buzz where none otherwise exists in these playoffs.

Except for Basketball America's obsession with Michael and the Jordanaires, there isn't much juice to these NBA playoffs. Over the weekend, even the Bulls took some of the air out of the postseason. They led by as many as 22 points Sunday in Atlanta. Boredom set in for Phil Jackson's team in the fourth quarter, but Chicago still hung on to win 89-80. This followed by a day a Bulls' 20-point victory.

For what it's worth, Dennis Rodman hardly mattered in either game. By next season, he won't matter at all, probably not even to the creatures who inhabit the world of MTV.

You know the peroxided freak's 15-minutes of fame are running out when people actually start feeling sorry for Rodman because of the way the officials are treating him. That would embarrass even Rodman, if he were capable of embarrassment.

The Bulls may still be sent packing early, but now we know the Hawks don't have what it takes. Perhaps the New York Knicks are up to the challenge. It wouldn't greatly surprise me if New York upended the Bulls in the next round, assuming the Knicks get that far.

New York took a step in the right direction by beating the Miami Heat in Madison Square Garden Sunday afternoon in a game that should have driven Hampton Roads fans outside, and not just because the weather was gorgeous.

The final score of this classic was 77-73. I assume it was as awful at that sounds, with lots of camera shots of Heats coach Pat Riley and Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy doing the old Rodney Dangerfield-my-collar-is-too-tight routine. Now that's great basketball.

To be honest, I try not to risk actually watching a Heat-Knicks game, and I can't imagine why anyone else would, either. Riley's tailor wouldn't sit still for what passes for basketball when these two tag-teams get together.

Out West, where coaches aren't afraid to let their multi-millionaire athletes actually play the game, the Houston Rockets overcame Charles Barkley's choke at the free-throw line to beat the Seattle Sonics in overtime.

The Rockets are a good story made even better by the emergence of point guard Matt Maloney, an undrafted 3-point shooter from the Ivy League. The Bulls, though, are the only story capable of elevating these playoffs to a special place.

Did Chicago suddenly awaken over the weekend? Perhaps not completely. It helps when your opponent forgets how to shoot the basketball.

Down the road, the Bulls could be beatable. Maybe only Rodman's hairdresser knows for sure.

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