Hornets Can’t Catch the Bulls at Four and Bow Out : NBA playoffs: Charlotte misses two last-second shots and Chicago advances with 85-84 victory.

Even Michael Jordan succumbed--if ever so briefly--to the enormous expectations of his teammates and this city. He and the Bulls were sweating out a third-quarter shooting drought against the Charlotte Hornets, and Jordan took himself out of the game, a virtual rarity.

But Jordan and the Bulls survived and staved off two closing-second attempts--one by Larry Johnson, the other by Hersey Hawkins--and defeated the Hornets, 85-84, at the United Center in the first round of the playoffs, taking the series three games to one.

The Bulls will meet the winner of the Orlando-Boston series with the Magic leading, 2-1, and Game 4 tonight at Boston.

“Maybe I tried to do too much,” said Jordan, who came out of retirement to play the final 17 games of the regular season. “It was totally out of my desire to help, that’s why I came back. This team was successful before I got here. If they weren’t, I would have never came back.

“I felt totally out of sync (in the third quarter). I wasn’t tired. It was more mental than anything. I asked to be taken out in the third quarter because everyone was throwing me the ball. Without me there, they had to play.

“It was the first time I felt pressure from my teammates. The team, the city. I felt uncomfortable. . . . They have to realize they have to walk on their own two feet.”

Since losing to Detroit in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1990, the Bulls have won 13 consecutive playoff series with Jordan in the lineup.

Thursday, Scottie Pippen scored 24 points and Toni Kukoc had 21 for the Bulls. For Charlotte, Alonzo Mourning scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds.

Jordan, who had 24 points on eight-for-21 shooting, scored seven of the Bulls’ final nine points as they held on in the stretch.

After leading, 54-44, at the half, the Bulls allowed the Hornets to climb back into the game when Charlotte scored in the first 11 points of the third quarter. Chicago shot only 22% in the third quarter and Jordan had two points as the Hornets outscored them, 24-11.

Said Chicago Coach Phil Jackson: “Some nights, as the saying goes, it’s better to be lucky than to be good. We felt that way in the last 20 seconds. It was really a strange second half. . . . I don’t know what helped us win this game, to tell the truth.”

In the waning seconds, Johnson backed in, turned and put up a shot from near the free-throw line, which fell short. Hawkins caught it in the air and attempted a reverse layup but missed. By the time Dell Curry converted the rebound, the final buzzer sounded. Hawkins claimed he was fouled by Jordan but didn’t get the call.

“I thought my arm was grabbed,” said Hawkins. “He pulled my arm down. I definitely thought I was slapped. If you look at the replay, you can tell by Michael’s reaction that he knew it was a foul. But give him credit, he did what he had to.”

Greeted with the Hornets’ theory of a Jordan conspiracy, Jordan looked ahead and delivered his best straight line of the night, saying: “That’s why I’m back.”

Said Pippen: “You’re not going to get that call from the officials.”

Charlotte Coach Allan Bristow thought there were two questionable calls near the end.

“It’s not that the refs necessarily decided this, but we needed a fair shake,” he said. “We needed some breaks like a couple of shots to fall at the end or better decisions from the refs. But we didn’t get either.”