By Ted Cox
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The Bulls got back on track, after their loss to the Knicks, with a remarkably routine win over the Washington Bullets at the United Center a week ago Wednesday. It seemed to suggest that an injured Pippen had been more hindrance than help, and that with that obstacle removed the Bulls could return to form. Pippen had scored 25 points in a home victory over the Golden State Warriors on the first of the month, but he’d scored either 11 or 12 points in each of the next three games–about 10 under his average–finishing with a woeful 5-of-16 shooting performance against the Knicks. Kukoc replaced him in the starting lineup against the Bullets, and instantly things went well. He scored 16, as did Longley, and Jordan took up the remaining slack with 37 as the Bulls won 103-86.
If there was ever a least-bad time for Pippen to miss ten days, this was it. After the Bullets the Bulls were scheduled to play four games in five nights–a home game Friday against the Denver Nuggets followed by games in New Jersey against the Nets and in Philadelphia against the 76ers and then a game back home against the Sacramento Kings. None of these were .500 teams, and only the Kings clung to a playoff spot, the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference. The Bulls hoped that Pippen would then be able to return to action for the grudge match at home against the Knicks on Thursday. But there are no comfortable stretches for a team chasing 70 wins, certainly not a sequence of four games in five nights. Every game is essential, and it’s as important to protect against overconfidence when playing patsies as it is to prepare well for stronger teams.
When the Bulls first started convincing people they had a shot at 70 wins, along about mid-season, every writer who came around to admitting the possibility felt compelled to add “if they don’t suffer a major injury.” Now, here was Pippen down, and everyone else was flowing into place to fill his role. Kukoc, of course, had sought to start all along, and Kerr’s role as deadeye distance shooter really didn’t change. Yet Buechler was especially impressive: with his solid outside shot and his consistent devotion to duty–night in, night out, he brought the same energy level off the bench–there was something of the naval ensign to his play. Maybe it was the way his high white socks made one think of dress whites. Anyway, all was still going according to plan. Or so it went until Saturday night, when the Bulls’ goal of 70 wins was put in greater jeopardy than ever.
