Hawk Swoops In On Jordan, Bulls
They still called him, “the Hawk.”
But he was declawed the first three games of the NBA Finals.
Hersey Hawkins hit just 10 of 26 shots and averaged 12.3 points as the Sonics lost three straight.
Friday, as Seattle cut the Bulls’ NBA Finals lead to 3-2, Hawkins scored 21 points, bringing his average in the two victories to 19.5 points.
“Hersey was scrappy,” admitted a defeated Michael Jordan, unable to break free from the defense of Hawkins and Gary Payton in the crucial moments Friday. “He was the difference for them.”
Normally, Seattle’s fate rises and falls on the play of Payton and Shawn Kemp, who combined for 45 points, 19 rebounds and nine assists.
But it was Hawkins, becoming that third scoring option, who has helped ignite the Sonics. Additionally, his defensive help against Jordan has been excellent. It was especially so when the Sonics went on an 11-0 run to break open the game in the fourth quarter as the Bulls missed seven straight shots and added a turnover.
“I thought Gary had run out of gas,” said Sonics coach George Karl. “So I decided to play Hawk on Jordan the fourth quarter.
“He was having a great game. The reason I didn’t play (David) Wingate was because Hawk was doing a great job of denying, of switching. I think some of the ball pressure helped. But it’s a team thing.”
And Hawkins, the Chicago native, is a team player; so he wouldn’t take as much credit as he deserved.
“It’s difficult to deny (Jordan) the basketball because they have so many options in their triangle set,” he said. “I think we did a good job of coming quickly on him tonight and not letting him shoot the ball quick. So he had to pass the basketball to other guys and they had to make decisions.”
Most of those were bad for the Bulls, who committed 13 turnovers to 10 for Seattle and were outrebounded. They seemed distracted and inexperienced as Dennis Rodman careened around, just drawing fouls on himself.
“It works in your favor whenever you’re playing the Bulls to have someone else shooting the ball instead of Michael,” Hawkins said. “And I think Brick (Frank Brickowski) and Shawn definitely got the best of Rodman. It was finally nice to see us frustrate him a little.
“The defense was just so intense for us. We played a solid 48 minutes and whenever we play the type of defense that we played tonight, we’re going to frustrate teams. That’s what we hope to do in Chicago Sunday.”
And if that were to happen, the Bulls would be facing a seventh game for the first time in four Finals’ appearances. And this Finals is becoming very different for the Bulls.
“I think they’re a team that plays in rhythm,” Hawkins said. “If you take them out of that rhythm, their shots don’t come as easily. I think we’ve done a great job of taking them out of their rhythm. It was important for us to go out there and not let them celebrate on our floor.”