The Worm Burns Rodman’s Antics, Profanities Threaten To Overshadow Key Game 5 In Finals

On the eve of the most important basketball game of the season, the NBA Finals were dragged down Tuesday by the latest plot turns in the continuing saga of Dennis Rodman.

The Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz are tied going into tonight’s Game 5, but the series has at times resembled a Rodman soap opera.

Tuesday’s happenings had enough angles to push talk about basketball well into the background.

In the latest developments:

The Anti-Defamation League harshly criticized Rodman for his vulgar and derogatory comments about Mormons.

Rodman more or less repeated his inflammatory statements prior to practice, then said he wouldn’t have made similar comments about Jews.

The NBA and Bulls management said they planned to speak to Rodman about his inflammatory comments, but no suspension or fine appeared to be imminent.

Rodman returned late at night from his second straight trip to Las Vegas with his rock star friends.

Michael Jordan said he had given up on trying to chide Rodman into a better performance.

One Chicago columnist called upon the Bulls to release Rodman immediately.

Rodman was unrepentant in his daily interview session with the media, especially when asked if he planned to apologize for his comments made last weekend about Mormons when he used an expletive to refer to them. He used another vulgarity to refer to some of them Tuesday.

“That’s fair,” Rodman said. “If we were in Houston, I’d say (the same) about some of the Houston people.

“Maybe I don’t know some of the Mormon people. The Mormon people don’t like me, either, right? That’s a given, right? So, what the hell.”

Rodman has been making off-color comments about Mormons since the series started.

There is no precedent for a player defaming an entire religious movement, and the league reacted tentatively Tuesday in issuing an official statement.

“If that’s what he said, it’s indefensible,” NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said. “We will be dealing with Dennis after the Finals are concluded.”

The only reaction from the Mormon Church was a no comment.

Outside the church’s high-walled world headquarters temple downtown, construction worker Jim Whiteley, wearing a Jazz T-shirt and hardhat, dismissed it as another example of Rodman trying to draw attention to himself.

“His lifestyle is so different from ours that being here has curtailed everything he’s used to. Some people will take offense, but we’re used to it because we’ve been persecuted ever since the church was founded in 1830,” Whiteley said.

Barbara Bergen of the Anti-Defamation League called on the Bulls or the league to take immediate action against Rodman.

“Any kind of hate speech against any group is indefensible. Frankly, his antics are getting old and a large segment of the community is turned off and disgusted. I would hope that the team and the league recognize that and take action,” Bergen said.

Coincidentally, Rodman hasn’t scored any points since the series moved to Salt Lake a week ago.

“I’m not tanking it,” Rodman said. “I have to play more time, more minutes. I played fairly good defense in the second half a couple of days ago, but I have to be more offensive minded and put the ball in the hole,” he said.

But Bulls coach Phil Jackson doesn’t want Rodman to be offensive-minded. During a timeout 6 minutes into Game 4, Jackson told Rodman to stop shooting.

“Dennis took two poor shots that weren’t in the context of our offense. Dennis questioned that immediately,” Jackson said.

Rodman then walked off the court and went to the locker room complaining of an upset stomach. Jackson called it a “biological urge,” and some, including general manager Jerry Krause, wondered whether Rodman had stormed off in disgust.

“I talked to the doctor about it. He said it was an upset stomach,” Krause said.

Nevertheless, Jackson said Rodman would again have the initial defensive assignment on Karl Malone in Game 5.

Jackson also said he had no problem with Rodman making the trip to Las Vegas again Monday night after he had done the same thing Sunday night after Game 4, not returning until mid-morning when the team was required to be present for interviews.

Rodman didn’t stay quite as long Monday night, returning to Salt Lake City around 2:30 a.m.

“His trip to Vegas was daytime. He was in his room and in his bed last night,” Jackson said.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Where’s Dennis? Dennis Rodman had no points and three rebounds in 24 minutes of Game 3, then went 0 for 4 from the field with six rebounds in Game 4. For the series, he is averaging 2.8 points and 7.0 rebounds and has had his playing time reduced considerably.