By Ted Cox
Take the early-season game in Vancouver against the expansion Grizzlies, when the Bulls looked miserable. Every other team in the league would have tanked it, saving their resources for the next opportunity. But the Bulls–led by a Jordan explosion in the fourth quarter (he finished with a team-high 29 points)–rallied from two points down entering the final period to win 94-88. Or consider the time this season that the Bulls blistered Orlando in the first half of its first visit to Chicago, but the Magic’s talented array of three-point shooters jeopardized the Bulls’ double-digit lead late in the game. Led by Jordan, with a little late help from Pippen, the Bulls held on to win comfortably, 112-103.
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The Rockets–like the Magic, the team they beat in last year’s NBA finals–employ offensive tactics so elementary that when they’re on their game it’s almost impossible to stop them. They have Olajuwon down low and several talented shooters on the perimeter. Once Olajuwon gets going, if the other side double-teams him, he can pass to any of several players outside for an open three-point shot. Yet these simple tactics can go hopelessly awry when the Rockets are not on their game.
It was an ugly contest, but the Bulls were proud of their defense. Both Longley and backup center Bill Wennington commented afterward that the Bulls were able to change tactics fluidly, from moment to moment, on Olajuwon. Sometimes they played him straight up, sometimes they got help from double teams; the pattern was erratic, but they always seemed to know what their teammates were about to do.
