Rodman Succeeds in New Role

He plays basketball, too?

With Michael Jordan dragging and Scottie Pippen, uh, off his game, Coach Phil Jackson searched through his Unmentionabulls for offensive help, only to see the unlikeliest of them all step up.

Live from New York, it was Dennis Rodman!

For once, notoriety had nothing to do with books, cross-dressing or Madonna. Rodman took 19 rebounds Sunday, held Anthony Mason to one point and made two late drives to the basket, himself, hitting Bill Wennington for the baskets that helped the Bulls come from three points down in the last 1:28 to beat the Knicks, 94-91.

Still looking less than awesome, the Bulls have had to rally in the fourth quarter for all their wins in this series but lead, 3-1, with Game 5 Tuesday in Chicago.

“They figured I’m too much of a chicken . . . to take the shot,” said Rodman with characteristic decorum, “that I’m too much of a lazy . . . to play offense.

“Every once in a while, I surprise you.”

Just what the Knicks needed, a surprise. Rodman played 52 minutes in Saturday’s overtime loss, then rested by appearing on “Saturday Night Live,” in which he reprised his famous head-butting scene, then reportedly joined the cast at a party in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Nevertheless, he looked like his old, manic self Sunday evening, even if no one else did. Jordan followed his magical 46-point effort Saturday with a modest 27-pointer, missing 16 of 23 shots. Pippen shot his usual percentage, going three for 11 and hurting his back in the process, although he stayed in the game.

Somehow they managed to lead the Knicks, no freewheeling scorers themselves, 86-76 in the fourth quarter--whereupon the Bulls went almost six minutes without scoring.

Handed a reprieve, the Knicks went on a 13-0 run to grab the lead, Patrick Ewing’s running 11-footer with 1:41 left, giving them an 89-86 lead. At that point, Jordan had missed all six of his shots in the fourth quarter. Pippen had missed all five in the second half and it was looking like a tie series and a long week’s work.

Then a funny thing happened.

Finding no one in front of him, Rodman drove the lane and when Ewing came up, hit Wennington for a dunk, the Bulls’ first basket in 5:57.

Moments later, the defense parted again, wide enough to ride through on his motorcycle. Rodman drove a second time and hit Wennington, who turned and made a 12-footer with 37 seconds left, putting the Bulls ahead to stay.

“We knew they wouldn’t take him seriously as an offensive player,” said Jackson, consenting to take questions again, either because the press was acting more responsibly or because his team had won.

“We just said, take it to the hoop and see what you can get.”

Actually, Jackson didn’t impose a total media embargo. He did an interview with NBC’s Marv Albert that was shown before Sunday’s game--either because Marv was acting responsibly or because Phil had a message he wanted to impart--in which he again announced he’d be interested in the Knicks’ job if it were vacant.

Jackson is on the last year of his contract with the Bulls and negotiations for a new one have stalled. But he’s as likely to come to New York as he is to end up running on Bob Dole’s ticket. Jackson has no intention of being at the mercy of the New York tabloids and after years of bitter rivalry, during which he has campaigned for edges through the newspapers, Knick officials bristle at the mention of his name.

The current Knick coach, Jeff Van Gundy, makes little secret of his distaste but he has an old, fading team, down 3-1, headed for Chicago--where it has lost 11 playoff games in a row--and isn’t in good position to zing Jackson or anyone.

“Again, our guys believe,” said Van Gundy, a lonely, piping voice in a sea of skepticism. “Whether anyone else does, that’s for everyone to decide that one. But we’ve never had a problem with belief.”

They have that going for them, then, if little else.