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 would be the Seattle SuperSonics’ problem, and they are happy to have it.
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.”
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That will have to do.
History now becomes the challenge of the Sonics, to become the first NBA team to win a title after being down 3-0.
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 as well.
Being rid of that obligation may be as important as anything the Bulls have done since they began agreeing with suggestions of their 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 on Wednesday, if necessary, home-court opportunities for which the Bulls played a season to get.
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 to do.
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. The Bulls may have counted on not losing two games in a row (it had happened only once this year) or on Jordan becoming superhuman after a game in which he was only ordinary.
Jordan was superior, but not enough, overworking again, having to do more than he should, getting inadequate help from a recalcitrant Pippen, who refuses to take a dare, with Dennis Rodman making no difference, Ron Harper missing altogether, Steve Kerr failing at the one thing he is asked to do, the Bulls appearing a step slower, a year more aged, a tad less exuberant than the Sonics.
The formula needs to be adjusted.
What the Bulls could have done is separate themselves from the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. Now what they can do is be alone in third place for 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.
Sideline whiner Bill Walton suggested that the Bulls will regret all this in 20 years or so when they look back at what might have been.
“You don’t have many opportunities to be part of history,” Walton said. “You have to make the most of them.”
Ah, the greatness of the Bulls is that fallibility in them becomes a greater fault than in the Sonics.
“I guess the discussion of the Bulls as the best ever is a day-to-day situation,” said TV mope Matt Goukas.
Champagne keeps.