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NBA PLAYOFFS : Knicks Get Moving With Ewing, Flatten Bulls : On Jordan’s 38-Point Off Night, New York Stays Alive With 121-114 Victory

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Times Staff Writer

Airless Jordan slumped in the Bulls’ dressing room and addressed his flatness.

“I just could not hit a basket,” he said.

He missed every outside jumper but one, missed a couple of layups besides. Scored only 38 points.

No wonder, of course, that the Chicago Bulls failed to eliminate the New York Knicks in their best-of-seven National Basketball Assn. Eastern Conference semifinal series. Man could not score. Could not buy a bucket.

“Flat,” said the most famous Michael this side of a cola commercial. He shrugged his head. “It was just one of those nights shooting.”

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And so the Knicks, who trailed in the series, 3-1, after a lost weekend in Chicago, seized their opportunity and beat the Bulls, 121-114, Tuesday night to send the series back to Chicago for Game 6 Friday night. Man was so flat he could fit through a mail drop.

Of course, it wasn’t just Jordan’s shooting--he was only 13 of 30, awful considering his 57% shooting in this series--that helped arrest the Knicks’ slide. After losing both games in Chicago Stadium with a stand-around offense, Coach Rick Pitino shrewdly directed his team into a motion offense that had the Bulls rocking back on their heels.

And there was 7-foot Patrick Ewing, finally arising to the challenge, any challenge. Ewing, who had shot 57% during the season, got backed way down by the Bulls’ Bill Cartwright in the first four games. He shot less than 45% from the field with Cartwright bumping him up and down the court. But he snapped out of it back home in Madison Square Garden, scoring 32 points, a career playoff high, grabbing 11 rebounds and helping foul Cartwright out of the game.

These various circumstances helped the Knicks to run up a lead as great as 19 points in the second half, a blowout in the making.

There was a point where everything seemed to be working for the Knicks, nothing for the Bulls: Jordan pulling up for a jumper, Ewing blocking it (he blocked four), chasing the rejected shot down and scoring.

And yet, all that said, the Knicks had to fight to save this game in the end. With just under a minute left, the Bulls pulled to within three points. The Knicks stretched it out a little but then fell down to the margin of one three-point shot with 17 seconds left. Things broke badly for the Bulls at that point and the Knicks were able to rescue the series. But of course the ending was such that both sides could claim some form of momentum.

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“Less than two minutes on the clock,” sighed Bull Coach Doug Collins, “and both teams have a chance to win.”

Said Jordan of the finish: “They (the Knicks) were trying not to lose, instead of playing to win.”

It is not so encouraging for the Knicks that this game, which should have been a walkover--the Bulls saddled with a Flat Man--developed into a scare. However, the Knicks will take their encouragement where they can find it. In New York they were largely written off, victims in a phenomenon that the tabloids tabbed “Air Pressure.” Jordan, after all, had scored 40 and 47 in the previous two games.

Also, they are pleased to have Ewing back in the game. Cartwright had been holding Ewing to four points below his average and just generally having his way with him. The shame of it was well chronicled in these parts.

“But Patrick is a man with great pride,” Pitino said. “I called him yesterday afternoon and said, ‘Big Man, you look down. Don’t you get down.’ I had no doubt he’d come out big.”

Probably less as a result of this pep talk (Big Man?) than of an offense that employed both sides of the court for once--the Knicks used a little ball reversal this time out--Ewing got the ball far more than he is accustomed.

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Gerald Wilkins, who had 17 points, said: “The constant, constant motion, a kind of brawl, kept Michael Jordan occupied (on defense). He couldn’t drop off on Patrick and double-team him.”

But the adjustment was emotional as well as technical. Ewing, while claiming the criticism has not stung, said: “I wanted to do well. I haven’t been playing well either series. I was just a little bit more hungry tonight. I wanted the ball.”

As even Collins had to observe: “Patrick, he was very alive tonight.”

This may amount to little more than a stay of execution. The Bulls are hard to beat in Chicago Stadium. Their eventual series with the Detroit Pistons for the conference championship is much anticipated.

Certainly Jordan likes his team’s chances there: “It’s not a guarantee,” he said. “We’re not in a secure position, but certainly a better position.”

Furthermore, no matter how well the Ewing and the Knicks play, they cannot count on another poor performance from Jordan, who mounted a few nice spinning drives but just could not send home a jumper. “Things just weren’t falling,” he said.

Asked if he’d ever had a night when “things just weren’t falling” and he still scored 38 points, he smiled only slightly. “I’ve had a couple,” he said.

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Not back to back, though.

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