Jordan Gets the Cheese, Bulls Win

The Cleveland Cavaliers spent $500,000 on a new Jordan-control device, but you know how these pests are.

Build a better mousetrap and the mice take it as a challenge.

Bristling at the notion that anyone thinks he can shut him down, Michael Jordan scored 43 points Tuesday night--only five fewer than the rest of his teammates combined--and led the Chicago Bulls to a 91-84 victory over the Cavaliers in Game 1 of their Eastern semifinal series.

“(Through) all the preliminary talk about the series, they made a point: Gerald Wilkins was here for one reason and that’s to guard me,” Jordan said. “I thought the ‘Jordan-stopper’ had a tough night tonight.”

The Cavaliers, eliminated by the Bulls in three previous playoffs in the Jordan era, are one of the few teams that dares to play him one-on-one.

Until this season, they used Craig Ehlo, a good defensive player whom Jordan beat whenever necessary. Last summer the Cavaliers added Wilkins, another guard with a reputation as a good defender.

This got in the newspapers.

Jordan noticed.

“I look at it as a challenge,” he said. “No matter what he (Wilkins) says, no matter what they say, it’s a challenge for a player of my stature.”

Jordan doesn’t lack for challenges.

Chicago’s nominal No. 2 scorer, Scottie Pippen, is running away from his shots faster than usual, amid speculation he will undergo ankle surgery as soon as the season ends. The No. 3 scorer, Horace Grant, sprained an ankle in the first period and played 19 minutes.

The Cavaliers rolled into an eight-point lead in the second quarter and someone had to answer them.

Jordan scored 11 points in the last 5:05 of the first half, and the Bulls cut the deficit to 47-46.

He scored 24 points in the second half and the Bulls eased away.

Cleveland, which had worked over the weekend putting away the Nets while the Bulls were finishing their week off, sagged. Brad Daugherty had eight shots, two fewer than Pippen. Mark Price, bothered by a sore thumb on his shooting hand and coming off a 39% shooting performance against the Nets, had 14 points by halftime and 17 altogether. He might have had more but Coach Lenny Wilkens kept him out the last six minutes of the game.

“I didn’t bench Mark Price, OK?” Wilkens said. “Terrell Brandon came in and played real well. I couldn’t play two small guards at the same time.

“Terrell penetrated. He dished off. If you were watching the same game I was, you would have seen that.”

Said Bull Coach Phil Jackson on Price’s absence: “He had to be hurt. That’s the only thing I could figure.”

So the Bulls put two players in double figures--B.J. Armstrong had 10 points--and celebrated. Jordan averaged 34 points, or 31% of the Bulls’ total, in the opening series against Atlanta, but Tuesday his slice of the pie jumped to 47%.

In some places, this would be an alarming trend, but the Bulls’ view is: What, me worry?

“No,” said Coach Phil Jackson, asked if he was concerned. “Not at this time of year.”

Said guard John Paxson: “It’s a 91-point game. He (Jordan) has an option on every play in our offense. You guys will bring it up, analyze it and over-analyze it. It’s really not an issue.

“It’s happened before and it’ll happen again. When you get in a half-court situation and he gets rolling, what are you going to do, go away from him?

“I’ve been with him eight years and I’ve seen it all. There are games like this with Michael Jordan.”

Of course, it’s a long series and Wilkens may yet decide to double-team and let some other Bull try to beat him. Otherwise there might be more games like this with Michael Jordan.