By Ted Cox
Switching the narration from first-person is not as significant as it first may seem. In writing about himself, Whitman sought a universal connection with his readers–an inherent, unspoken “we”–and Jackson simply makes that overt in a way that, for instance, we might. Yet any reader would have to admit that the line takes on a subtly different meaning when applied to a team embarking on the playoffs after a record-breaking regular season. For Whitman, it’s a poem of self-reliance. “Strong and content I travel the open road,” he writes. Jackson’s version draws on that connotation, but also suggests that the team has reasons for its contentment. “Be confident and content in who we are off the court and what we’ve accomplished on the court,” he seems to say, “and the rest will take care of itself.” It’s an attempt to undercut any self-imposed pressure. As the Bulls themselves had said, to a man, that their historic 72-10 season would be meaningless without a championship to complete it, the self-imposed pressure had to be immense as they opened the playoffs.
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Yet by imposing an intense toughness on his own team, Riley left the Heat susceptible to cracking, like a vase in an overheated kiln. In the second half it was the Heat, beset by foul trouble and frustrated by the Bulls’ defense–Ron Harper stymied Hardaway in the third quarter, stealing the ball three times and making Hardaway work on the defensive end by scoring eight points of his own–that shattered. Centers Alonzo Mourning and Chris Gatling both fouled out and were then banished to the dressing room by the referees for bitching about the calls, as was Riley himself, who left the floor with the scowl of a mobster on the way to the grand jury. Jackson had to control his own laughter as Riley and the Heat players kept marching past him on their way to the locker room. “It was like a parade,” he said afterward.
Riley could do nothing but complain about the referees. A few years ago he’d called the Bulls crybabies for griping about the officials. Now who was the crybaby? When the Miami players came out with nothing fresh in Sunday’s second game of the series, the Bulls ran roughshod over them. The Bulls were back in rhythm, and they produced beautiful basketball from the opening tip. They scored the first six points, then four more before the Heat scored again. When Jordan stopped and popped, hitting a three out of a fast break, the Bulls had a double-digit lead at 15-4. They drove the lane and passed to Kukoc and Harper for short, open jumpers. When the jumpers were covered, they passed back outside to Jordan and Pippen for open threes. Jordan had his turnaround going again, and he established the space to hit those outside shots by driving to the hoop for one of his presto layups early on. After missing a pair of foul shots early in the second quarter Pippen went crazy as well, with a behind-the-back layup out of a fast break, then a big rebound that led directly to another Jordan jumper. At halftime Pippen was on pace for a triple double, with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists, while Jordan simply had 26 points.
