Bulls Run Out of Air in Stretch : NBA finals: Portland overcomes Chicago’s big early lead to even series, 93-88, as tired Jordan misfires in fourth quarter.

Rejoice all ye faithful, even you, the wavering Blazermaniac who changed your “No doubt about it” banner after Game 3 to:

“Some doubt about it.”

The Bulls saddled up Michael Jordan and tried to ride him to a 3-1 lead Wednesday night, but Mike threw a shoe in the stretch. He scored 32 points in the first 38 minutes but none in the last 10 as the Trail Blazers overhauled the Bulls, 93-88, tying the series, 2-2.

The Trail Blazers thus ended a four-game home losing streak in the NBA finals. They hadn’t won here since June 5, 1977, when a Democrat was President and Bill Walton wore a red bandanna.

They also overcame a crisis of confidence--their own and everyone else’s--after their Game 3 debacle.

Between Sunday’s first quarter and Wednesday’s fourth, they went seven quarters without a lead. They were 13 points behind before this game was six minutes old. They trailed all night Wednesday until Clyde Drexler stripped Jordan and scored a fast-break layup with 3:34 left.

But they finished the game with a 12-6 run and it was a new series.

“It was looking a little cloudy before the game,” Jerome Kersey said, “but we stepped up to win the game. There’s sunshine in Portland.”

There are still clouds over the Bulls’ hotel, though. The world champions reverted to their Mike-first offense. Only two Bulls--Jordan and Scottie Pippen--scored in double figures.

When Jordan faded, so did they.

And fade he did.

Having played 34 of the first 36 minutes because of Pippen’s foul problems, Jordan started the fourth quarter sinking a running seven-footer and an 18-footer to put the Bulls up, 73-66.

He came out of the game for a rest--for 2:24.

Back in, he took one shot, a missed 20-footer, in the next five minutes while the Trail Blazers cut it to 82-81.

In the clutch, of course, Jordan stepped up, or tried to.

He posted Drexler up and spun toward the middle for a turnaround 10-footer, but Drexler reached in left-handed, stripped the ball loose and started a fast break that he also finished, scoring on a layup. The Trail Blazers had their first lead since Sunday, 83-82.

“If you play a guy enough, you get to learn some of his moves,” Drexler said, grinning sheepishly.

“Michael’s got about 2,000 of ‘em. I guessed right this time.”

With the Trail Blazers ahead, 86-85, Jordan drove across the lane, got free for a fallaway 15-footer, but left it short.

With the Trail Blazers ahead, 88-85, he put Drexler away with a fake, jumped into the lane but missed a 10-footer.

With the Trail Blazers ahead, 93-88, he missed a three-pointer.

“I was a little winded,” Jordan said later. “I played a lot of minutes (44). I had to play more with Scottie in foul trouble. I really didn’t have the legs to finish shots, even though I had good shots.”

He has a day to rest his legs before Friday’s Game 5.

His teammates have the same amount of time regroup.

“Well, we had that game in hand and let it slip away, that’s how we feel about it,” Bull Coach Phil Jackson said. “We had a great opportunity and let it pass us by.”

One team’s opportunity is another’s necessity. For the second time in the four-game series, the Trail Blazers wiped out a double-figure lead. For the second time, they outdueled the Bulls in the stretch. For the first time, Jordan sagged under his burden. Imagine the possibilities.

Notes

Magic Johnson, who said at the All-Star game that he will “probably” return as a player if things go well in the Olympics, now says buying a team is his top priority. “Ownership is number one,” said Johnson, working for NBC during the NBA finals. “Everything else has to take a back seat. My whole thing is that I’ve always wanted to own a team. The Lakers have gone onward without me, and that’s good because they have to draft and do their thing without me.” Johnson says he has a chance to be part of two ownership groups, one with King owner Bruce McNall. He said he also might explore buying into the Kings.

The Trail Blazers played the fourth quarter with a small lineup--and Michael Jordan leveled a thinly veiled criticism at Chicago Coach Phil Jackson for the way he attacked it. The Trail Blazers used three guards and Jerome Kersey and Cliff Robinson, who guarded Bill Cartwright. “We should have realized Cliff Robinson was playing Bill Cartwright,” Jordan said. ‘That should have been a focus for us. But somehow we were allowed to lose that thought.” . . . Kersey and Robinson, who combined to miss 19 of 24 shots in Game 3, climbed out of their holes. Kersey made eight of 12 and scored 21 points. Robinson went six for 11 and scored 17--or four more than the entire Chicago bench. . . . The Bulls got a break on an unusual flagrant foul call on Kersey, after a foul call against Robinson on the same play. Scott Williams hit three free throws to put Chicago up, 80-74, but Jordan missed a 20-footer and the chance at a five-point possession. . . . Jordan, asked if that shot would have made a big difference: “If ‘if’ was a fifth, we’d all be drunk.”

MORE LIKE IT: Forward Cliff Robinson emerges from a series-long slump to play a key role as he scores 17 points in 27 minutes for the Trail Blazers. C7