Bulls Break Away From Lakers in Fourth Quarter : Pro basketball: With 33 points and 15 rebounds, Jordan is here, there and everywhere when it counts.

Wrong time, wrong place, maybe wrong decade.

The Lakers, eager to make up for their lost night in Cleveland, had too much on their hands Friday night. Start with the one, the only Michael Jordan, who had 33 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, leading the Bulls to a 114-103 victory.

Only one team’s funk could end and it was Chicago’s. The Bulls were coming off a demoralizing rout at Detroit that had Coach Phil Jackson hinting at lineup changes and Jordan hinting he wasn’t happy.

The Bulls feel a lot better this morning. Meanwhile, the Lakers are 14-9, third in the Pacific Division, on a two-game losing streak, in a flat spot as they try to evolve from earthbound caterpillar to lovely butterfly.

During their early slump, Magic Johnson said he was “an impatient man when it comes to winning.”

Is his patience being tested?

“Very much so,” Johnson said.

The next step for the Lakers involves returning to their fast-break ways and getting more play from their bench, so they don’t ride Johnson and James Worthy into the ground by March.

From that standpoint, as Mike Dunleavy likes to say, Friday night wasn’t a total bust.

For a while, the Lakers ran. Their bench--read A.C. Green and Larry Drew--played commendably in the first half. Green scored 12 points in seven minutes of the first quarter. Drew made his only shot and had two assists. For the first time this season in a tight game against a quality opponent, Johnson rested and the Lakers gained ground while he was out, going from a 35-33 deficit at the start of the second quarter to a 46-44 lead.

Of course, there are two halves in a game. The Bulls broke the game open with Johnson on the bench, with a 7-0 burst early in the fourth quarter.

“It’s tough to lose,” Dunleavy said, “but I thought we have a good effort. I thought the Bulls had a hell of an effort and beat us.

“Chicago’s a good team. They just played better than we did tonight.

“We wanted this game. We gave a good effort. I’m proud of the effort we gave.”

At least, they looked like the Lakers, for a while. While solidifying their defense and learning their offense, they had settled into a half-court team, playing to the post-up strengths of Worthy, Johnson and Sam Perkins. But Friday, they came out running.

They kept running, until one of the Bull guards took over the offensive boards and gave the Lakers’ break the rest of the night off. Can you guess which one it was?

No, it wasn’t B.J. Armstrong. It was Jordan, who had eight offensive rebounds, half his team’s total.

“Michael’s cat-quick,” Johnson said. “But the thing about Michael people don’t know, he’s so strong.

“We got good transition tonight. We killed ourselves after the first period. We let them get second shots. Before that, we’d let them get one shot and we were out.”

The Lakers trailed, 56-52, at halftime, then kept the game close in the third quarter by raining three-point baskets on their hosts--five in five tries, two by the ever-surprising Perkins, two by Johnson, one by Scott.

Guess who started to take over then?

Try this sequence: Jordan comes flying down the baseline into a traffic jam in the lane; Jordan puts up a miracle layup you couldn’t even imagine and misses; Jordan gets his own rebound; John Paxson winds up taking a jump shot and missing; Jordan gets this rebound, too, and scores on a 10-foot jumper.

Moments later, here’s another only-you-Michael sequence: Jordan comes flying in for another miracle-layup attempt, misses, gets his own rebound, goes up again but has the shot blocked by college teammate Perkins. Cliff Levingston rebounds, however, and scores.

Leading 92-89 in the fourth quarter, the Bulls broke it open this way: Horace Grant scores on a layup on a pretty pass from Scottie Pippen, is fouled and makes the free throw; Grant blocks Mychal Thompson’s layup and Pippen makes a fast-break dunk; Drew misses a long jumper and the Bulls run again, with Stacey King scoring on the layup. Suddenly, it’s 99-89.

A new era in the Laker-Bull rivalry?

“I’m the holdover,” Johnson conceded, smiling. “No question about it, it’s a new era. We’ve got new faces, a new coach. It’s a whole different thing this year. We have Sam Perkins, Terry Teagle. We have three rookies. We’ve never had three rookies since I’ve been here.”

To see how the new era evolves, stay tuned.

Laker Notes

For Terry Teagle, the struggle continues. He missed both his shots Friday and was two for 12 on the trip. . . . Before this trip, Magic Johnson was shooting 21% on three-point attempts. On the trip, he went nine for 15. . . . The Lakers’ next game: Minnesota Sunday night at the Forum.