Jordan Back With A Clang Comeback Wins Praise Despite Poor Shooting

The double-pump fakes? Check. Mid-air hangs, explosive dribble drives, out-of-nowhere passes? Check, check and check.

In his dramatic return to the game he couldn’t stay away from, Michael Jordan showed all the elements that made him great, a tantalizing reminder of what the NBA had missed during his 21-month hiatus.

Only his shooting touch was missing, and no one, including Jordan, expects that to be absent for long.

“I got something to build upon,” Jordan said. “If I score 60, it looks boring. I have to build myself up to my caliber of play.”

As it was, he took 28 shots but made only seven - a .250 average that was better than the .202 he hit in the minors last season. He had 19 points, six assists, six rebounds and three steals in 43 minutes Sunday in the Bulls’ 103-96 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers.

“The expectation is, ‘Can he do the same things he did two years ago?’ ” Jordan said. “I look forward to the challenge.”

Late in the game, he answered it. With two neat jumpers, he kept Chicago close in overtime, tying it 94-94, then pulling Chicago to 97-96 with 1:32 left.

That kind of competition is what brought him back from his precipitous retirement in October 1993 and a yearlong flirtation with baseball.

“I tried to stay away as much as I could,” he said, “but when you love something so long and you walk away from it, you can only stay away so long. I missed my friends and my teammates.”

Jordan didn’t exactly pick up where he left off in in his last game, when he led the Chicago Bulls to their third straight NBA title in June 1993.

For one thing, his shorts were on backward. The NBA logo that supposed to be on the front right leg of the Bulls’ shorts was on the back of Jordan’s left leg.

But on the defensive end of the court, it was as though he never left. Assigned to guard Reggie Miller, the league’s best shooting guard post-Jordan, Jordan didn’t embarrass himself, even though Miller finished with 28 points in a game the Bulls never led.

“He’s still got all of his stuff,” Miller said. “I’m sure conditioning is going to be a problem for him for a game or two. But once he gets in the rhythm - oh my goodness.”

Jordan’s best play of the game came in the third quarter when he blocked 7-foot-4 Rik Smits from behind, stripping the ball and sprinting up the court for a driving, tongue-wagging, finger-roll layup. That basket, with 8:55 left in the quarter, cut the Pacers’ lead to 50-44, the closest the Bulls got until late in the fourth quarter.

“I thought Michael showed his brilliance in many ways,” said Bulls coach Phil Jackson, whose team lost for the first time in four games.

With 19 seconds to play, Scottie Pippen’s 3-pointer tied the game 92-92. With three seconds left, Jordan fouled Miller hard and both players went down. After staying down several seconds, Miller limped to the bench with a right thigh contusion.

Jordan stayed down longer, holding his left knee, but was on the court when the game went into overtime. The crowd at Market Square Arena actually booed him.

The Pacers put the game away when Chicago’s Luc Longley fouled Byron Scott as he drove to the basket, the ball bounced in and Scott hit the floor. Then, he converted the free throw for a 102-96 lead with 29.8 seconds left.

Jordan scored Chicago’s only points of the extra period.

“It’s a miracle with the limited time he had to prepare to play like that,” Pacers coach Larry Brown said. “People have to be a little realistic. it’s going to take him some time to play at the level people expect him to play at.”

There was a crackle of electricity when the Bulls strode onto the court, and the Market Square Arena crowd squealed with delight at Jordan’s every pregame layup.

But earlier, he was as nervous as he’s ever been.

“It was tough getting off the plane,” he said. “But getting off, I knew the game was beginning.”

He had been there before, hearing his name announced as a member of the Bulls starting lineup, but it wasn’t quite the same. For one thing, he wasn’t wearing No. 23, which hangs from the ceiling of Chicago’s United Center after the Bulls retired it last year.

In his second coming, Jordan is No. 45, the same number he wore as a Double-A outfielder with the Birmingham Barons.

This was a game with something at stake for the Pacers, who have won six of seven and lead the Central Division. That much was obvious when, after Jordan’s first two shots bounced off the rim, a fan yelled, “Go back to Birmingham.”

It was hard to say who started off worse, Jordan or his teammates.

He didn’t look nervous, but he still missed his first five shots, including an open 19-footer. Looking like they were meeting each other for the first time, the Bulls missed their first five shots, fell behind 13-2 and were 5-of-19 in the first quarter.

“Quite frankly, every shot felt good. They just didn’t fall,” Jordan said. “I really wasn’t looking to shoot early, because I was trying to get into the flow of the game. I kind of got forced into shooting because of the shot clock winding down.”He seemed to get his second wind in the second half, though, scoring four points in the third quarter while playing nine minutes of the period.”I started cramping up toward the end,” he said.That he went 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter hardly mattered.Jordan was back in the game.

Pacers 103, Bulls 96

CHICAGO (96)

Kukoc 3-9 0-0 7, Pippen 11-20 6-9 31, Perdue 1-4 2-5 4, Armstrong 5-7 2-2 15, Jordan 7-28 5-6 19, Blount 0-4 1-2 1, Myers 2-3 1-2 5, Longley 3-6 1-2 7, Harper 0-0 0-0 0, Kerr 1-2 0-0 3, Wennington 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 35-85 18-28 96.

INDIANA (103)

D.Davis 3-6 3-6 9, McKey 7-14 2-2 16, Smits 5-11 2-2 12, Jackson 5-7 0-0 10, Miller 8-18 8-9 28, A.Davis 0-3 2-4 2, Fleming 2-4 1-2 5, Scott 5-7 6-7 17, Ferrell 0-1 0-0 0, Mitchell 2-2 0-0 4, Workman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 37-74 24-32 103.

Chicago 15 22 26 29 4 - 96 Indiana 21 26 26 19 11 - 103

3-Point goals-Chicago 8-18 (Armstrong 3-3, Pippen 3-8, Kukoc 1-1, Kerr 1-2, Jordan 0-4), Indiana 5-14 (Miller 4-12, Scott 1-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Chicago 48 (Blount 8), Indiana 57 (D.Davis 20). Assists-Chicago 19 (Jordan 6), Indiana 25 (Jackson 10). Total fouls-Chicago 25, Indiana 26. Technical-Pippen. A-16,694 (16,530).