Bulls Find Ugly Way To Go Up 2-0 Sonics Nearly Pull Off Upset

The Chicago Bulls have shown how to win rusty and ugly.

It’s not a pretty thing so far, this coronation of the Bulls, and the NBA Finals went from mediocre in Game 1 to mucky in Friday night’s Game 2 as Chicago managed a poorly played 92-88 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics.

“Call it whatever you want, I’ll still call it ‘Bulls Two. Them None,’ ” said Ron Harper, who contributed 12 points to another victory by a team that wins the ugly ones as well as it wins the pretty ones.

How gruesome was it? Dennis Rodman, of all people, was the only one looking good. The Bulls scored only one basket from the field in the final six minutes, had their second-worst shooting night of the postseason (39 percent) and blew three straight free throws in the final 10 seconds that would have clinched it.

Finally, after a jump ball sequence that was so botched it had to be done over two times, Rodman controlled the tip, got fouled and made the second of two foul shots for the final four-point margin.

The crowd at the United Center let out a scream of relief and walked to the exits wondering how the supposed best team in the history of the league could have played such a stinker.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Sonics forward Detlef Schempf said. “We played hard, but we gave up way too may offensive rebounds to Rodman, and we can’t do that.”

As they did many times in the regular season and a couple of times in the first three rounds of the playoffs, the Bulls managed to find a way to win.

The main reason was Rodman, who grabbed 20 rebounds - tying the NBA Finals record with 11 on the offensive end - and dominated a third quarter in which the Bulls took control with a 2-minute stretch of good basketball - their only one of the night.

“I thought we’d play little better, but we didn’t,” Rodman said. “But that’s what the playoffs are all about. The people got their money’s worth and hope we can get one Sunday.”

That’ll be Game 3 at Seattle, and the Sonics will be trying to become only the third team in NBA history to successfully come back from an 0-2 deficit in the Finals.

The Sonics had an opportunity to change the course of the series and head home with a chance to win the best-of-7 series, but they scored only once from the field in the final four minutes.

“One thing we’re learning is that it takes 48 minutes of serious basketball to play these guys,” Sonics coach George Karl said, “and so far we’ve only given 43, 44.”

Shawn Kenp’s two free throws with 12 seconds left cut Chicago’s lead to 91-88, and Seattle then needed to foul and hope somebody on the Bulls would miss a pair.

Scottie Pippen obliged.

After missing the first, Pippen’s second attempt barely grazed the front of the rim. Rodman grabbed the rebound at the same time as Sam Perkins and a jump ball was called. Rodman controlled the tip, outjumping a player a couple of inches taller, and clinched the victory seconds later with his final foul shot.

“There’s no question he was the MVP of the game tonight,” Karl said. “When he got that last rebound, the one that barely hit the rim … he’s an amazing rebounder.”

Rodman’s 20 rebounds were one off his playoff high, and eight of his 10 points came in the third quarter.

“That’s his job, he’s the best probably in history at squeezing between two guys to get a rebound,” Seattle guard Hersey Hawkins said.

Michael Jordan scored 29 points on 9-of-22 shooting that included seven straight misses in the second half, including a couple of airballs and shots off the side of the backboard.

“This is a game I don’t feel great about the way I played, but I feel great about the way it turned out,” Jordan said. “We should have gone out and orchestrated. Instead, we tried to live off what we did (in Game 1).”

Chicago scored only 16 points in the fourth quarter and shot only 25 percent in the period.

Jordan also missed six free throws, but he had a team-high eight assists and six rebounds. Kemp led Seattle with 29 points and 13 rebounds. Gary Payton had problems for the second straight game, shooting 6 for 15 and scoring 13 points - then mouthed off at Jordan after the Bulls had the game won.

Bulls 92, Sonics 88

Seattle (88) - Kemp 8-18 13-16 29, Schrempf 5-14 4-4 15, Johnson 1-4 0-0 2, Hawkins 6-11 3-5 16, Payton 6-15 0-0 13, Perkins 5-10 3-4 13, Askew 0-1 0-0 0, Wingate 0-0 0-0 0, Brickowski 0-1 0-0 0, Snow 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-75 23-29 88.

Chicago (92) - Pippen 8-16 5-8 21, Rodman 3-6 4-6 10, Longley 1-5 0-1 2, Harper 2-8 7-8 12, Jordan 9-22 10-16 29, Kukoc 4-12 1-2 11, Wennington 0-0 0-0 0, Buechler 1-1 0-0 2, Salley 0-0 0-0 0, Kerr 1-6 1-1 3, Brown 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-77 28-42 92.

Seattle 27 18 20 23 - 88 Chicago 23 23 30 16 - 92

3-Point goals-Seattle 3-15 (Schrempf 1-3, Payton 1-4, Hawkins 1-5, Kemp 0-1, Perkins 0-1, Askew 0-1), Chicago 4-21 (Kukoc 2-7, Jordan 1-2, Harper 1-4, Pippen 0-4, Kerr 0-4). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Seattle 46 (Kemp 13), Chicago 65 (Rodman 20). Assists-Seattle 10 (Schrempf, Payton 3), Chicago 22 (Jordan 8). Total fouls-Seattle 30, Chicago 27. Technicals- Chicago assistant coach Rodgers, Seattle illegal defense 4, Chicago illegal defense 2. Flagrant foul-Perkins. A-24,544 (21,771).