Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993 TAG: 9301060015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BULLS SHOOT FOR A SPOT IN HISTORY
Last season, the Chicago Bulls went through the NBA like it was a china shop.In defense of its first championship, Chicago finished 67-15 last regular season, then bulled past Miami, New York, Cleveland and Portland for a playoff repeat. The Bulls bickered and battled, but the bitterness never surfaced on the court.
This season, an undercurrent is tailing the Bulls, although it certainly isn't as evident as the championship aura that surrounds them. It likely is the same with Sacramento or Atlanta or Denver, but those teams have not won a title, and they do not have Michael Jordan on the team bus.
In the corridors of the Charlotte Coliseum last week, the Bulls didn't have to act like champions. The fan reaction confirmed their status. Sure, it was Jordan's homecoming, as evidenced by the 55 tickets he left for family and friends to watch a goring of the Hornets.
The location doesn't make any difference, however. It's like this at every NBA stop. That is why the Bulls seem constantly to be playing defense. That is why Jordan, who will reach 20,000 NBA points before his 30th birthday next month, got off the bus behind the arena surrounded by eight security guards.
It's not the shoes, either.
"When you're as good as we are, there aren't many challenges left," said guard John Paxson as matter-of-factly as Jordan's triple-double against Charlotte. "In every arena we go to, it's a big game for the other team. It's a big game for the fans."
They are virtually the same Bulls as last year, but are they as good? Well, projecting their start through an 82-game season, Chicago would finish 63-19. Are the Bulls as focused as they try to become the first team to win three straight NBA titles since Boston took eight from 1959-66?
Not now.
"I think we have good concentration, but you just can't sustain it every night," said Bulls coach Phil Jackson, who has reached 200 victories faster than any other coach in NBA history. "It's tough sometimes when you have someone down 15 on Dec. 1 to play at that level. You just can't kill yourself during the season.
"As for reaching the optimum level of play, it's not as great as it was as often as it was. Still, when it comes to the playoffs, I think this team can play the kind of basketball that takes teams out of their games. They know what it takes."
Before the Bulls climbed to "three-peat" position, the Lakers and Pistons stumbled over the third step. There is a notion that Jordan and teammate Scottie Pippen are weary from their "Cream Team" experience at the Barcelona Games, but if Chicago is less-than-bullish this season, that is not the reason.
"You lose something every year you try to repeat," Jordan said. "We've lost something. You just try to minimize what you lose. Last year, we didn't play as well as the year before and this year we're not playing as well as last. But we maintain enough hunger to win."
Appropriately for the city it calls home, this Jackson five is a team of broad shoulders, too. "The controversy of the past has matured us," Jordan said. "We're ready for the traps. We take care of things ourselves."
Kareem. Oscar. Russell. Wilt. West. Cousy. Mikan. Dr. J. Magic. Bird. Baylor. Pettit. Hondo. On the Greatness Team roster, Jordan may be the captain. The three-time NBA most valuable player can't reach the next level by having the Bulls clear a side and letting him go solo.
"The first championship was a dream come true," Jordan said. "Then, we showed it was no fluke. To win a third, since it hasn't happened in 27 years, would be historical for us.
"We'd have to be compared to the best. The historians would have to put us with those great Celtics and Lakers teams."
Jordan knows that will be easier than the Bulls putting themselves in that category.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL