By Ted Cox
Those were the only two three-point shots Kukoc made in the first game against the Sonics, but in the second last Friday he again hit a pair in the course of a minute to turn the game around, this time in the third period. (It’s no accident that all of them came in the second half; he seems to have a marked preference for the east basket at the United Center.) First Kukoc hit a three over Sam Perkins to give the Bulls a five-point lead. Then, after a Seattle free throw, Randy Brown practically handed the ball to a wide-open Kukoc in the corner. He swished that shot as well, giving the Bulls a 72-65 lead with just under two minutes to play in the quarter and setting off a run by the Bulls. Scottie Pippen stole the ball and raced downcourt for a slam dunk. A Seattle miss prompted a Chicago fast break, with Michael Jordan on the dribble, and he slung a beautiful crosscourt pass through traffic to Kukoc cutting to the hoop for another dunk and a 76-65 lead that brought Karl back out on the court in his pose of surrender. “You’re playing a team that always has a five- or six-minute spurt that you have trouble staying up with,” Karl said afterward. He hadn’t seen anything yet.
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Kukoc’s pyrotechnics led to a 76-65 Bulls lead through three quarters, but things began to go awry when Jordan missed two free throws–as sure a sign of weariness as a pitcher issuing his first walk in the seventh inning–with the Bulls ahead 78-67 but still over ten minutes to play. With the redoubtable referee Hue Hollins giving the Sonics the benefit of the doubt on every call–this after he had blown an obvious Kemp goaltending violation on a Kukoc shot in the first half, thus drawing outrage from Bulls assistant coach Jimmy Rodgers and chants of “Hue suck” from the fans–Seattle closed the gap. Kemp, the one Seattle player to show up for both of the first two games, completed a three-point play to bring the Sonics within four at 85-81, then added another to make it 88-84. From there the game turned into an ugly defensive tussle and a battle of free throws. Jordan pulled himself together to make two at the line, but then the Bulls rapidly disintegrated. Kukoc made one of two with 16 seconds to play, and two Kemp free throws later Pippen–with a 91-88 lead and a chance to ice the game–missed a pair. Rodman, however, tied up Perkins on the rebound, finally won the jump ball after two poor tosses by the referee, and was fouled. He missed the first shot but made the second for the 92-88 final. The game had suited Rodman’s style of play, and he’d excelled. Nobody was making shots in the fourth quarter, yet as Karl put it afterward, speaking of Kukoc, “He kept missing shots, but every shot he missed I think Rodman rebounded.”
As in the glory days of three straight championships, the Bulls didn’t merely defeat their opponents, they crushed their confidence. Before the series began, the Sonics looked to have athletic players who could give the Bulls fits–at least in one or two games. Yet the Bulls left them questioning their own abilities. The Bulls did it this time, however, with only the irrepressible Rodman playing mind games. Otherwise the damage was done entirely in the course of action. The old Bulls called to mind the Bobby Fischer quote: “I like to see ’em squirm.” These Bulls have had the same killer instinct, but without the sadistic streak. In the world of sport that may set them apart even more than their 72 victories in the regular season.
