Bulls Beat Pants Off the Magic, O’Neal, 111-91

As far as duels of the titans go, this one went at halftime. This wasn’t the NBA’s version of the Cowboys and the 49ers, more like the Cowboys and the Cardinals.

The Bulls can be the Cowboys, but who in this league is going to be their 49ers?

It wasn’t the Magic, who scored 38 points in the second half and fell without a fight Sunday, 111-91, in a game that will be chiefly remembered for a non-basketball play, Shaquille O’Neal’s trunks falling down.

The 7-foot-1, 330-pound Orlando center wears shorts big enough to make a circus tent. Late in the game, his drawstring snapped and the Big Top sagged over his hips. O’Neal had to leave and change on the bench, his modesty protected by his tights while Bull fans wolf-whistled, another illustration of how difficult it is to play on the road.

O’Neal’s only complaint was that he was called for a foul on the play when the string snapped.

“Somebody was pulling on my shorts,” he said later. “The string didn’t break by itself. You tell me.”

And what if his shorts had fallen to the floor?

“I wouldn’t be ashamed,” he said, grinning.

So much for mythic deeds. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who combined for 84 points in last week’s nationally televised game, also known as The Bulls’ Hour, were held to a total of 37 Sunday, combining to shoot 13 for 37 from the floor, making only four shots in the second half.

It might have been different for the Magic, except that Toni Kukoc, the unhappy Bull on this season’s Sunnybrook Farm, came off the bench feeling something strange: confidence. Kukoc had 28 three-point baskets all season but made three in an 80-second burst in the second quarter, three more in 66 seconds of the fourth and scored 24 points in his 23 minutes.

Kukoc has long been the odd Bull out. Jordan and Pippen first resisted management’s attempts to recruit the Croatian star, then playing in Italy. At the 1992 Olympics, Pippen went out of his way to embarrass Kukoc as a way of protesting the Bulls’ priorities and their failure to renegotiate Scottie’s contract.

When Kukoc came, Jordan retired, although that was coincidental. When Jordan returned, however, Kukoc, who had been blossoming, withered.

On a team with 11 blissed-out players, Kukoc has moped all season, upset at decreased playing time.

“I think he’s so threatened or feels so threatened by me being here,” Jordan said, “some of the offense and some of the contributions coming through Scottie and myself, not through him, and that’s something he can’t be worried about.”

Last spring when the Magic knocked them out of the playoffs, the Bulls double-teamed O’Neal and were shot dead by Horace Grant, Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson. Sunday they let Luc Longley try it one-on-one. O’Neal had 33 points, but his teammates fell into a pattern: Throw the ball into the big guy, watch to see how he does.

The Magic shot 70% in the first quarter, 40% after that. What was there to say but, this wasn’t such a big game after all?

Predictably, this was promoted as a blood feud in Chicago, with one radio station reporting O’Neal was angry with Jordan for winning the All-Star MVP. Actually, O’Neal didn’t blame Jordan, whom he admires, and Michael tried to give him the trophy, or at least sent one of his bodyguards over with it. O’Neal, however, had already left.

For a week, Orlando Coach Brian Hill said he was having trouble keeping his players’ minds on business as they looked ahead to Sunday. However, when the Magic players hit town, they started downplaying it: This wasn’t a huge game, their real rivals were the Knicks, Pacers and Heat.

If nothing else, Sunday’s game proved they were right.

“To be honest with you,” Hill said, “I didn’t think this was a playoff-intensity game like our Miami and Indiana games were on the road [the Magic won both]. Those were playoff-intensity games.

“I think we’re absolutely on the same level with the Bulls. Just because we lost a game today doesn’t mean that we’re not as good a basketball team. But we’ll have to prove that.

“They have a fabulous record. They deserve it. They’re playing great basketball, Phil’s doing a great job with them, Michael’s outstanding, and they have all the right pieces with [Dennis] Rodman now. But I still think when push comes to shove, it’s going to be a seven-game series.”

Game 7 looks like it will be in Chicago, where the Bulls are 25-0, so the Magic had better come more prepared.