True, this is Chicago, where we are trained to think the unthinkable, and not fear failure so much as expect it.
But this team is different. This is Destiny’s Dozen, too talented, too driven, too deep, too smart, not necessarily in that order, to disappoint.
This team is not the 1969 Cubs, who led their division by 8 1/2 games in mid-August only to finish second by eight games, or the 1984 and 1989 Cubs, who went 0 for California in six playoff games.
These Bulls lost 10 games from November to April and can lose 11 games from now until June before claiming their fourth NBA championship. Only one opponent, Indiana, beat the Bulls twice during the regular season.
For the Bulls to abort, they will have to lose three games to Miami in just over a week, or four games to another opponent of a subsequent series inside two weeks. Don Young, Leon Durham and Les Lancaster could drive the Bulls to the arena, and that won’t happen.
This team is not the 1970-71 Blackhawks, who blew a 2-0 series lead and a 2-0 lead in Game 7 at home in the Stanley Cup finals, or the 1991-92 team that won 11 straight playoff games, only to be swept by Pittsburgh in the finals.
No athlete in Chicago history has been so ready and so able to will his team to a successful conclusion as Michael Jordan. He says he never has had as much fun as he’s having this season. He also says no record record would mean less than 72-10 if the Bulls somehow falter along the way.
The NBA should feel free to take both of Jordan’s declarations as warnings. And if anybody thought Michael was enjoying himself so thoroughly that he might be mellowing, Saturday’s Hollins Maneuver should change that. One wayward whistle lit up Michael all over again. He has nothing to prove, but he’ll prove it anyway. He is unstoppable at any speed or altitude.
This is not the Bears, who won it all after the 1985 season but avoided returning to the Super Bowl by dropping three straight home playoff games in as many Bear-weather Januarys to Washington, Washington and San Francisco.
These Bulls are so possessed about current events that they’ve left two No. 1 draft choices, Dickey Simpkins and Jason Caffey, off their playoff roster. Also, Jack Haley, who’s averaging five points every seven minutes off the bench and should have fresh legs.
The message is clear. Experience matters. Jewelry begets jewelry. The Bulls are not running a tryout camp to teach poise under pressure situations. The Bulls’ sense of immediacy has produced 48 minutes of hard labor every night. The young and restless must wait and watch and learn.
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This is not the White Sox, who won the division by 20 games in 1983 but couldn’t beat Baltimore, or who won the division by eight games in 1993 but couldn’t beat Toronto.
Bigger is better, especially when the Bulls are starless in the middle, though less vulnerable with Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, John Salley and James Edwards. If you don’t have one center, try four. Plenty of fouls to give against Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O’Neal, if necessary.
These Bulls are not the Bulls who took a 3-2 series lead against Golden State but couldn’t score 80 points in the last two games and missed the 1975 NBA Finals, or who self-destructed and were eliminated by Orlando here last May.
Pat Riley coached toughness in New York, and even the Knicks needed help from Hue to outlast the Bulls once without Jordan. The Heat can try to beat the Bulls by beating them up. So might other teams. But the Bulls can take an elbow.
Defense, role players, ability to adjust. There are no secrets now, nor is anything guaranteed. Ask Greg Norman. But if there’s trouble, Phil Jackson will think of something. And in the end, the question will be, Where we do put that statue of Jerry Krause?