A funny thing happened before last Friday’s game between Bulls and the Hornets at the Chicago Stadium. During the introductions, not only was the Hornets’ Kendall Gill cheered by the Stadium faithful–an expected occurrence, as Gill was a high school star at south-suburban Rich Central and played his college ball at Illinois, endearing him to Chicago fans–but Larry Johnson and even Alonzo Mourning received more cheers than boos. Johnson, a tank of a forward listed at six feet seven and 250 pounds, is the star of Nike ads in which he plays his “grandmama” and takes on all comers on the basketball court, so he is a well-known and friendly presence to most hoop fans. Mourning, meanwhile, is a handsome, chiseled center, the second player chosen in last summer’s college draft; his Chicago welcome, after he’d starred at Georgetown–whose basketball program rates poorly with the general public–shows what a strong impression he has made in only his first pro season. The Hornets have a young, charismatic team that fans enjoy seeing–even fans of the Bulls.
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January has been a difficult month for the Bulls. After embarking on the new year with a streak of sharp play, they suffered through a small slump, losing three of four. Then over the next two weeks the fates of the schedule cast them against three of the best young teams in the Eastern Conference. They played the Orlando Magic and Shaquille O’Neal–the player picked ahead of Mourning in summer’s draft–twice in the same week, then the New Jersey Nets and the Hornets on back-to-back nights last week. This streak left the Bulls looking old and exhausted. As they embarked on a demanding road trip involving nine games in 18 days (called for by the annual run of the ice show at the Stadium), the impression the situation gave wasn’t quite one of barbarians at the gate; but it was one of young lions demanding their share of the spoils. Head coach Phil Jackson pondered the possibly endemic causes behind the Bulls’ performances.
That Jackson would go public with such private fears shows how serious the problem is. He no doubt hopes to inspire the Bulls to regain the sharpness of previous years. Yet clearly the Bulls are in the process of passing the torch to a new generation. They eventually whipped all the great teams of the previous generation–the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, and Detroit Pistons–and they whipped all the contenders of their generation–although they face a new challenge this season from the Phoenix Suns, with Charles Barkley. Yet the biggest challenge looms in seasons ahead, beginning right now. The National Basketball Association is suddenly bursting with new stars; the Bulls, the young up-and-coming team of only two seasons ago, have just as suddenly been advanced to middle age–their prime, sure, but also the era of facing down the youngsters who want what the Bulls have, from public acclaim to world championships.
At first it was kind of comic. The rookie Mourning tried to intimidate Bill Cartwright on one inbounds pass by jumping up and down and yelling “Yahoo, yahoo, yahoo!” And Johnson set a screen for Gill and shouted out “Shoot it, Kendall!” so loudly that Gill missed the open shot. The Hornets crashed the boards early, all five guys heading for the hoop, creating situations like the one that saw Gill snaking through traffic for a tip jam, with the Bulls then passing the ball the length of the court to the open Horace Grant for a stuff and a 42-40 lead. It worked the other way too: Scottie Pippen took a bounce pass from Will Perdue for a driving jam that Gill followed up with a dunk on a two-on-one break for a 51-51 halftime tie.
“There’s a lot of parity in this league,” said Jordan, “and I guess if you want to say younger teams are getting better, or older teams are getting older–whatever–it’s starting to even out.”
