Highlighted With a Magic Marker

Oops, there goes their 77-win season.

The sledding is getting heavy for the Bulls as they, or their fans, zero in on what immortality a regular-season record would bring. Seventy victories would beat the Lakers’ 69-13 mark, the Bulls’ schedule gets easier, and, even after Friday’s loss in Miami, their 48-6 pace projects to 72-10.

Of course, Michael Jordan is averaging 38 minutes and Coach Phil Jackson had a nightmare Saturday in which someone demanded he explain why he lost so many games this month. For the Bulls, it has been hard enough to reach 48.

Thursday in Atlanta, they fell behind by 17 points before rallying to pull it out.

Friday in Miami, the Heat dressed only eight players, made 15 of 23 three-point shots and pulled off an upset which South Florida celebrated as if it meant an NBA title.

Ask the Bulls if they haven’t already been guests of honor at enough necktie parties.

“I mean, everybody’s up to play us,” Scottie Pippen said as they practiced for today’s nationally televised game against the Orlando Magic.

“You know, I don’t know what it is, the 70 wins or the tour that we’ve been on far as everybody is on the Bulls’ bandwagon, but every team that we played has definitely played up to the top of their game. It’s made it very tough for us because we haven’t been able to come in any arena and cruise to some degree. Every game has been a tough one for us.”

Of course, they’ve won most of them. They were 13-1 in December, 14-0 in January and, despite playing 10 of the games on the road, 9-3 in February. Their 24-6 road record gives them an .800 percentage, better than any other team’s overall record.

Of the Bulls’ last 28 games, 17 will be at home, where they are 24-0. They have no more trips longer than one game.

On the other hand, if they’re next to unbeatable, they’re also beat.

“Without exposing my inner secret world, my subconscious, I had a very difficult dream this morning where I had to explain why we lost so many games for February,” said Jackson, smiling.

“And I was showing a calendar for February and saying, ‘This is what our month has been like.’

“I don’t know if anybody’s had a month like this. And it wouldn’t be so bad if our players didn’t have to go to the All-Star game. That just totally skewed our ability to recover and recuperate.

“Out of the four weeks we’ve been playing basketball since we played Phoenix on a Sunday [Jan. 28], we’ve been home four days. Then you add that All-Star break and lack of sleep and the things that go along with travel and excursion, and this team is rightly tired. I don’t think it’s basketball games per se. I just think it’s road games and road-weary.”

Friday in Miami, Dennis Rodman got a technical from one of his special nemeses, referee Terry Durham, went unglued and was benched by Jackson, playing only 28 minutes. Jackson said Dennis had become “confused.”

Said Rodman, agreeing after a fashion: “If I had bad breath, they’d call a foul on that.”

Jordan played 40 minutes against the Heat. He is 33. Rodman is 34. Pippen is 30 and they’re agreed that if the price of winning 70 is playing heavy minutes through April, this is one honor they’ll let slide by.

The Magic carries with it the Eastern teams’ slender hopes that one of them, with Shaquille O’Neal, Rik Smits or Patrick Ewing at center, can overmatch the Bulls’ Luc Longley and Bill Wennington and beat the Bulls in a series.

The Magic, 6-0 since the All-Star break, has even won two road games in a row, after a 10-14 start.

However, the Bulls have been tough when they cared enough to come ready. This is their first game against the Magic since Shaq returned to the lineup and they remember last spring, when the Magic eliminated them by winning two of the three games here.

“I just told em,” said Jackson, “go home, get rest, tell your wives you’re going to stay home and not go out tonight. Go out the next two weeks.”