You there. Yeah, you in the corner, clutching your limited edition Michael Jordan blankie. Pull yourself together, man. You’re, what, 45 years old?
Come on, take a deep breath. Good. Have a seat, and let’s check you out. Your pulse is 150. A little high for a confident Bulls fan, don’t you think?
Stare into this beam of light. Mmmmm. Fixed pupils, broken blood vessels, general look of terror. Not good. Had night sweats, too, did you? Here’s a positive vital sign: Your blood pressure is Bulls 88 over Pacers 83.
Much better.
What, you worry?
Of course you were worried. The Bulls on Sunday advanced to the NBA Finals, where they’ll play the Utah Jazz in a best-of-seven series beginning Wednesday. But not before injecting a healthy dose of nervousness into their fans. Chicago wrote its own book Sunday: “Learning to Exhale.”
What you’re going through, Mr. and Mrs. Bulls Fan, is Game 7 post-traumatic stress syndrome. That’s the clinical term. The layman’s term for it is, “Ye of little faith.” Here it is, the morning after crunch time, and you’re hyperventilating like a claustrophobic in a stalled elevator. You have been conditioned to think an NBA title is a Michael-given right.
Maybe it is. With 40 seconds left in the game and the Bulls finally in command, the crowd at Cactus, a North State Street restaurant, started chanting, “Let’s Go Bulls” in celebration.
“I’m breathing a sigh of relief,” said patron Patti Foley. “This game took a lot out of them. I was a little nervous.”
For the first time in years, the Bulls dealt in a new medium, suspense, and a city sat on the edge of its collective seat, not quite sure how to act. Acting cocky didn’t seem appropriate, not with the Pacers matching the Bulls basket for basket in the Eastern Conference finals. Acting panicked didn’t seem to fit, either, not for fans who had witnessed and celebrated five NBA championships.
So they sat and waited and watched the Pacers jump to a 14-5 lead. Watched them score on nine of their first 10 possessions. Watched them take a 13-point lead. Watched Dale Davis treat Toni Kukoc as if he were a chew toy.
Watched an accident in progress–and panicked.
“I was getting ready for the rest of the summer to go golfing, just like Jordan,” said Mark Broskey of Lincoln Park. “I figured I’d see him on the golf course.”
But the Bulls, summoning up all their experience in playoff games, finally began to come to life. Scottie Pippen took to the basket like a guy making a contract run. The Pacers, perfect to start the game, were only up by eight at the end of first quarter.
When Jordan head- and shoulder-faked his way to a layup, the score was tied at 28. The Bulls took their first lead moments later when Jordan rebounded his own missed free throw and knocked in a jump hook. Steve Kerr dialed long distance twice.
What, you worry?
“I was totally nervous up until the last minute of the game,” said Maureen Erickson, who watched the game at Melvin B’s Truck Stop on State Street.
Since winning their first NBA title in 1991, the Bulls have added a strut to Chicago’s walk. We have held this truth to be self-evident: With Michael Jordan in the lineup and a talented supporting cast around him, we could expect a yearly title. We humored him when he wanted to play pro baseball, let him get the rust out when he returned in 1995 and expected more titles after that. He delivered.
But something different happened this time. The Pacers shook fans’ confidence by hyperextending the series to seven games.
Kukoc scored 14 points in the third quarter, and yet the Pacers still wouldn’t go away.
More Top Picks Solar Boat
With less than 9 minutes left, Rik Smits made a short jumper and was fouled. His free throw capped an 11-0 run, giving the Pacers a 72-69 lead.Then it was tied at 79, 5:34 left. Where it would stop nobody knew. Jordan missing two free throws down the stretch? It happened. Luc Longley hit a 15-footer to make it 83-79. Antonio Davis took Miller’s miss and put it in to cut the lead to 85-83.
With 2 minutes left, Pippen made a a baby hook from behind the backboard to put the Bulls up 87-83 with 1:59 left. Ron Harper’s steal of a Mark Jackson pass all but finished it.
Manny Sudhindra saw it all, which is impressive. The native of India purposely missed his flight from O’Hare International Airport to California so he could watch the rest of the game at a bar there.
“It feels so good because it means so much to this town,” said Sudhindra, a former Chicago resident and now a professor of physics at the University of California. “Can you imagine if I had to go home and face all those people who love the Lakers? I would have died of embarrassment. “It’s like we can all breathe again after we kept our breaths in so long.
With the last seconds ticking down, Jordan cradled the ball and pumped his other fist. It looked a lot like relief. For Chicago, it was like looking in a mirror.
“I honestly thought they might lose,” said Anthony Alexander, 13, a resident of the Mercy Home for Boys on the Near West Side. “I’m very relieved because the Bulls won. The legacy continues–repeat the three-peat.”
As the game ended on the TV at the home, two Indiana fans were banished from the room, to the taunts of “Na-na-na-na.” The confidence seemed to be creeping back.
Bring on the Jazz, but have emergency personnel on call. Just in case.