New York’s Rally Wins Revenge of the Knicks I

Ice storms. Howard Stern’s gubernatorial campaign. Now the Bulls.

Nothing is easy here, not even the long-awaited revenge on the team that had eliminated the Knicks the last three seasons. With Michael Jordan off somewhere in double-A, the Chicago Bulls still led by 15 points in Sunday’s third quarter. What was next? Would they put Jordan’s No. 23 on a dummy, tie it to a horse like El Cid and put the Knicks to flight?

“We don’t want to use the excuse of not having enough time, but we weren’t in it,” said Coach Pat Riley, after his Knicks rallied to beat Chicago, 90-86, in the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

“We wanted to (be), but we just were not in it. They basically took it to us, so we can go to school on this game and feel thankful that our mothers were praying for us today because that’s what it took.”

After eliminating the New Jersey Nets, the Knicks had only a day to prepare for the Bulls’ constant-motion offense. That was three fewer days than the Bulls, who had swept the Cleveland Cavaliers.

New York was coming off a week of playing bumper cars with a big New Jersey team, but Sunday, the Knicks couldn’t jostle what they couldn’t catch.

They also had their customary trouble shooting. When their lone dependable gun, Patrick Ewing, stumbled off to a two-for-six start, they found themselves down, 52-42 by halftime.

If they suspected they were in trouble, they found out for sure in the third quarter, during which the Bulls increased their lead to 67-52.

Something--the crowd? the urgency? Scottie Pippen on the bench?--turned it around late in the third quarter.

“Fear of losing,” said John Starks. “Fear of losing makes people do what they don’t want to. We stepped up our effort, big-time.”

In the last 1:30 of the quarter, with Pippen resting and Toni Kukoc trying to run the show, the Knicks cut five points off Chicago’s lead.

Defensive stands in the fourth quarter produced stops on five consecutive Bullpossessions and an 8-0 Knick run. With 5:49 to play, Anthony Mason’s free throws tied it, 79-79.

It was 86-86 when Pippen, trying to run a pick-and-roll with Luc Longley, found both Knick defenders jumping him, abandoning the Bulls’ center. Pinned down, Pippen fired a wild 30-footer to beat the 24-second clock. With no Bull retreating on defense, the Knicks hit Mason at the other end behind everyone for the basket that put them ahead to stay.

Riley suspended Mason for the last three games of the regular season for complaining about playing time, so Mason must have been on top of the world Sunday night, right?

“I’ve pretty much put that suspension stuff behind me,” said Mason, looking less than jubilant. “This was the biggest contribution I’ve made. I don’t know if this was the best I’ve felt.”

The Bulls gulped hard on the result.

“You’ve got to be (angry) to some degree,” said Pippen, “but there’s always tomorrow.

“We’re going to be a much tougher opponent than what everybody anticipated. I think, reading things, hearing different things, people maybe think (the Knicks are) going to dominate the whole series. You know, whether the Bulls win a game in the series or not, it’s not going to be an easy series for them.”

Having survived a letdown, the Knicks are considering coming ready for Game 2, an approach they expect to hear more about.

“We’re not entitled to anything,” said Riley, warming to his favorite subject. “I read in the press about sweeping this team. They’re wearing three rings and they’re not going to give ‘em up.

“For some reason, people think we’re entitled to move on and win the championship because we paid our dues and got beat three times in a row by them. They don’t grandfather anything to anybody.”