Phil Jackson, who knows his way around a library, has read all the great novelists, essayists and philosophers. So it is only appropriate that he also monitors deep thoughts from the Bulls’ poet laureate, Will Perdue.
“He mentioned something in the newspaper about this season being like a ride through a tunnel,” said Jackson. “It’s dark and it’s long and you aren’t quite sure what to expect when you reach the end. He was right.”
This is pretty heady stuff, the coach quoting a guy the coach won’t play, but it does confirm what a group effort the Bulls have mustered. If they don’t win another game, they will not have perspired in vain. After all, when Michael Jordan decided to buy a bus, they were supposed to be under it. Yet, when exhaust fumes from the regular season clear at nightfall Sunday, the Bulls will be revved for pursuit of their fourth straight NBA championship.
“Am I surprised?” Jackson said. “Probably more than anybody-our fans, the media, the experts. When Michael retired, I didn’t think we’d fall apart. But he was the best basketball player. So my goal for us was to make the playoffs, and with the homecourt advantage. That would have meant finishing in the upper half of the conference. What’s that, 45 to 50 wins? I think I told the players 49 was the magic number, though I never really pinned it down until we got there.”
The Bulls are at 55 and counting, with two games remaining. The chance to win the Eastern Conference and the Stadium edge through at least their first three series still exists, although the emphasis on both might be misplaced. Even without Jordan, the Bulls won 25 of 41 games on the road, which is where they clinched three of the four playoff series one year ago. Even without Jordan, the Bulls don’t frighten easily around last call. They’re 13-4 in games decided by three or fewer points, 24-14 in games decided by 10 or fewer.
“Even without Jordan,” Jackson said, “we’ve tried not to change certain things. We’ve tried not to beat ourselves. We’ve always stressed thinking better, teaching better and executing better. Can we win a fourth title? The guys wondered early on, as I did, but now that they see how things have developed, they are really ready for the challenge. The last two weeks, especially.”
We’ve all scrambled to find precedent for such a miracle, just in case the Bulls pull the biggest surprise of all and wind up wearing party hats again this June in Horace Grant Park. The instance we seem to come up with is by way of hockey. The Edmonton Oilers seized their fifth Stanley Cup in 1990 despite the conspicuous absence of Wayne Gretzky, clearly the driving force behind the previous four during their dynasty of the ’80s.
There are two holes in that argument, however. First, the Bulls received nothing when Jordan vanished except predictions of their imminent demise. Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for three warm bodies, rights to another, three first-round draft choices and a serious bundle of cash. Also, the Oilers didn’t win the season after the deal but two seasons after, when some of those replacement parts settled in to create a new identity.
Wait. It gets worse. The Oilers have bombed since for a variety of reasons, including attrition and thrift. Perhaps, too, reality of Gretzky’s departure overcame the adrenaline rush that existed immediately after his move. The Bulls are filthy rich, though you couldn’t prove that by Grant, who is just one of the thoroughbreds kicking to flee the barn. Next year’s Bulls might be everything this year’s Bulls were supposed to be, and less.
“There aren’t any more Stan Mikitas in sports,” said Jackson, latching onto the hockey motif. “Players just don’t stay with one team for 21 seasons.”
Next year’s tunnel vision suggests strongly that you savor this year’s joy ride.
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