Shooting The Bull Over Who’s Best Bulls Are Tops
Rusty, huh?
Yeah, the Bulls have sure looked rusty so far. The eight-day layoff darn near killed them.
Meanwhile, can anyone do the Heimlich Maneuver on the Spalding stuck in Gary Payton’s throat?
Let’s get this straight: These Chicago Bulls are the best team in the history of the NBA.
The Best Ever.
Better than the Bill Russell Celtics, the ones with Cousy, Sharman, Satch Sanders, Sam and K.C., Heinsohn, Havlicek; all those guys whose numbers are up on the rafters. Better than the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers, who won 68 games with Wilt, Luke Jackson, Chet Walker, Hal Greer, Wali Jones and Billy Cunningham. Better than the Knicks’ jump-shooting dream team in 1969-70, whose center, Willis Reed, overcame Wes Unseld, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain in successive playoff series. Better than the 1971-72 Lakers of Wilt and West, who won 69 games, 33 in a row.
Better than Riley’s Showtime Lakers, with Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Michael Cooper and either Norm Nixon or Byron Scott. Better than the “Fo-fo-fo” Sixers in 1982-83 with Doctor J, Moses, Mo Cheeks and Bobby Jones.
Better than Larry Bird’s Celtics, even that terrific 1985-86 team, with the greatest front line: Bird, McHale, Parish and Bill Walton coming off the bench. Better than any of the Bulls teams in the “three-peat.”
Better than all of them.
Not the best individual talent one-through-12. Not the most Hall of Famers. The best team.
There has never been a team that dominated on both ends of the floor like the Bulls. There have been great individual defenders. Russell, Jerry West, Walt Frazier, Bobby Jones, Michael Cooper spring to mind. The Bulls have three players like that - Jordan, Pippen and Rodman. If Gary Payton is “The Glove,” the Bulls are the hat, the scarf and the coat.
Look at what these guys are doing on defense. Holding a team to less than 100 is good. Holding a team to less than 90 is very good. The Chicago Bulls are smothering playoff teams. They held Miami to 75. Orlando averaged 105 points a game through two rounds of the playoffs. The Bulls held them to 83 and 88 in Chicago, and 67 in their own building. During the regular season, the Sonics averaged 105 points. They haven’t broken 90 against the Bulls. On Sunday, the Bulls held the Sonics to 86 in their own building, and won by 22, grinning.
The Bulls have lost one game in the playoffs - Game 3 with the Knicks - and that was in overtime. They won four of five from the Knicks, who played in the NBA Finals two years ago. They swept the Magic, which played in the Finals last year. They are in the process of sweeping Seattle, which won 64 games this season. This isn’t like beating Manny, Moe and Jack. These are excellent teams. They’re killing Seattle. The Bulls are so strong, so overpowering that they have made the playoffs a dud. It’s almost like they are being cheated out of the full measure of their greatness because they’re so much better than even the second-best teams, and they have no one to play Frazier to their Ali.
If this sweep happens the Bulls will have gone through the playoffs 15-1. No team has done that. The Bulls sailed through the regular season 72-10. (It easily could have been 73-9, but for that silly, last-second Hue Hollins foul call on Jordan in the Indiana game.) No team ever won 70. The Bulls are staring at 87-11. We’re staring at the 1927 Yankees.
It starts with Jordan, obviously; Jordan is the best player on any basketball team anywhere. The distance between Jordan and whomever is second now is the Gulf of Mexico. It’s beyond belief that Payton yapped at him. Didn’t he know Jordan would zero in on him like a guided missile? When Jordan came off the court Sunday night after scoring 36 points - 27 in the first half - the very first words he said were, “I knew this was The Glove’s home court.” Talk about targeting your message. Payton must have been out of his mind to take on Jordan so personally. Early in the season some sportswriters began fancifully comparing Jerry Stackhouse to Jordan. Stackhouse hadn’t said a word. Jordan heard the buzz, and dropped 48 on Stackhouse. Jordan loves Stackhouse; Stackhouse is a Tar Heel.
Yes, it all begins with Jordan. But the genius of this team is the construction around No. 23. Scottie Pippen is a fabulous player - and he’s been resolutely unselfish since the playoff pout against the Knicks two seasons ago, when he took himself out of the game and sat on the pine. Toni Kukoc is a fine all-around player. That concludes the oooh-and-aahhh portion.
Everybody else is a role player, even Dennis Rodman, who has been spectacular during the playoffs - both on the court, and with his coiffures. (Memo to Frank Brickowski: Do yourself a favor. Don’t play Wednesday. Leave town now. Get plastic surgery. Join the witness protection program.)
Rodman is clearly a major talent, however one-dimensional. But roll through the rest of the roster. Nobody wanted them. Steve Kerr? Three teams passed on him. Ron Harper? Washed up. Jud Buechler? Waived twice. Bill Wennington? Had to leave the NBA and play in Italy for two years. Luc Longley? Didn’t start on the Australian Olympic team.
But look at what Phil Jackson has done. He has convinced every one of them that they have a valuable role to play - if they accept the limited responsibility of those roles. Outside of Jordan and Pippen the Bulls are specifically task-oriented. Kerr and Buechler are there to hit shots; Harper is there to stop somebody; Longley is there to throw his big body between the ball and the basket, any offense is gravy. They each play the one note they play well. They never complain about playing time. They go in and give every bit of energy they have. They accept their tasks eagerly. No fits, no feuds, no fights and no egos. Amigos. The abiding intelligence of the players has made the whole of the Chicago Bulls far greater than the sum of its individual parts, even with the preeminent Jordan.
In January, when the Bulls were beginning to field questions about possibly winning 70, I asked Jordan where the Bulls might rank on his all-time list of great teams. He said he could not put them on a par with Magic’s Lakers, Bird’s Celtics or the “three-peat” teams.
Then, in April, when the Bulls finished the season here in Washington with their 72nd win, we had the same conversation. By this time Jordan had modified his stance. He said that what the Bulls had done during the regular season wouldn’t mean a thing if they didn’t win the NBA championship. But if they won the title, Jordan said you’d have to put the Bulls “in the same conversation” with the greatest teams of all time.
We are having that conversation now. Chicago has the microphone.
MEMO: See opposing view under byline: Mitch Lawrence New York Times News