Jordan Finds Magic Number Wearing Old No. 23 Jersey, He Shoots Bulls To Series Tie

What’s in a number? Plenty, apparently, if you’re Michael Jordan.

Jordan brought No. 23 out of retirement Wednesday night and was back playing like his old self after a disastrous Game 1 against the Orlando Magic. Shucking the No. 45 jersey he adopted upon his NBA return, Jordan scored 38 points and controlled the second half in the Chicago Bulls’ 104-94 victory.

He hit 11 of 13 shots in the second half and 17 of 30 overall to send the Bulls home to Chicago with a 1-1 split in their best-ofseven Eastern Conference semifinals. “He felt like he had a good rhythm,” Scottie Pippen said. “He finally settled in.”

Pippen added 22 points for the Bulls. Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr each had 11.

Shaquille O’Neal led Orlando with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Horace Grant had 23 points and 15 rebounds.

The number switch took nearly everyone by surprise. Since Jordan dresses in a room separate from the Bulls locker room, even his teammates and coach Phil Jackson didn’t know. “I was shocked. The whole bench was shocked,” Kerr said.

The switch seemed to inspire Jordan, who added seven rebounds, four steals and four blocks. Why he made the jersey change, Jordan wasn’t saying.

But after going 8 of 22, committing eight turnovers and making two crucial mistakes in Sunday’s 94-91 loss, Jordan thought he needed a change, said Bulls equipment manager John Ligmanowski.

Jordan hits his first six shots of the third quarter, including a 14-footer that gave the Bulls a 71-62 lead with 4:50 left in the period. In the fourth, the Magic got no closer than five as Jordan continued to hit jumpers and added a soaring breakaway dunk with 1:34 remaining.