The Bulls return to Chicago with a serious case of diminished majesty, not the worst thing to have, not like needing to win two games on somebody else’s floor. That’s the Seattle SuperSonics’ problem, and they are happy to have it.
“We wanted to finish it out here,” Michael Jordan said, “but it didn’t happen. They wanted it more than we did.”
The Bulls went west with immortality at the other end of the charter. They go home with only routine glory to preserve, just another title to inscribe, another team for its time and not a team for the ages. Ho and hum.
An apology is expected.
“We are human,” Scottie Pippen said. “We’ve sort of put that in people’s minds.”
That will have to do.
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History now becomes the challenge of the Sonics, to become the first National Basketball Association team win a title after being down 3-0.
“We’ve done switched the momentum,” said Sonics guard Gary Payton.
Reality returns to a situation that had floated into fantasy, a place where these Bulls were playing not the present Sonics but proxies for generations gone by, as if the Bulls were trying not only to win the ’96 championship but the ’72 and ’85 titles.
Being rid of that obligation may be as important as anything the Bulls have done since they began agreeing with suggestions of their own invincibility.
“We lost our focus after we walked off the floor last Sunday,” coach Phil Jackson said, “just as soon as all that sweep talk started.”
It will become basketball again, with a game Sunday and even one on Wednesday, if necessary, home-court opportunities for which the Bulls played a season to get.
“If we win Sunday and get a Game 7,” said Payton, “it’s a whole different story.”
Not as romantic a notion as playing for the ages and not as lofty a challenge as beating three eras of the NBA all at once, but that is what is left for the Bulls to do.
“We’ve got a series now,” Jackson said. “We’re ready to get back to Chicago and take ’em on.”
This was a special opportunity missed, as well as 41 of 50 three-pointers in the two games lost in the Key Arena. The two things are not disconnected.
Perspective is welcome. And easier to look at than some numbers from the last two games, such as Pippen’s 9-of-37 shooting and Steve Kerr’s 2 of 11 from the three-point arc.
Jordan can not be any more superior than he is, but Jordan is not enough, overworking again, having to do more than he should, getting inadequate help from a recalcitrant Pippen, who refuses to take a dare.
“Scottie didn’t find his rhythm in his shot again tonight,” Jackson said, “but we encourage him to keep shooting. He’s got to shoot for us to play well.”
With Dennis Rodman making no difference lately; Ron Harper missing altogether; Kerr failing at the one thing he is asked to do; and the Bulls appearing a step slower, a year more aged, and a tad less exuberant than the Sonics, the formula could use some adjusting.
“It was important not to let them celebrate on our floor,” Sonics guard Hersey Hawkins said.
What the Bulls could have done is separate themselves from the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. Now what they can do is move beyond the couple of Philadelphias, Warriors and 76ers, to be alone in third place with the most franchise titles with four.
Slimmer pickings, but a prize every team in the NBA, starting with these Sonics, would hoard like extra pillow chocolates.
Something more than a couple basketball games was lost, but nothing too vital for immediate regret.
“We had to show a lot of courage to go back to Chicago,” said Sonics coach George Karl, whereas the rest of us need a picture ID and a seat assignment.
Champagne keeps.