Bulls Find Fountain of Youth in Press

Age and experience are wonderful, but when you’re 18 points behind in the third quarter in the playoffs, it’s time for legs.

Necessity, after all, is the mother of pressure defense, so the Chicago Bulls had to thwart Father Time to take a 2-0 lead in their series against the Orlando Magic.

“We’ve been hesitant to use the press that much,” Michael Jordan said Wednesday, a day after the Bulls had done just that in beating the Magic, 93-88.

“We’re probably the oldest team in the playoffs. We try to conserve our energy. But when we were 18 points down, we didn’t have much choice.”

Chicago fell behind, 64-46, midway through the third quarter and had none of the offensive rhythm that helped the Bulls win Game 1 in a rout.

So the Bulls found it on defense, with thirtysomethings Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Ron Harper. And their Generation X opponent cracked.

“We lost our aggression offensively. We were looking to pass the ball backward rather than trying to burn the pressure for easy baskets,” said Magic Coach Brian Hill, whose team scored only 35 second-half points and will be without Horace Grant for the rest of the series. “You can prepare for the press, but you can’t put Pippen, Jordan and Harper on the floor [in practice] and simulate that type of pressure.”

Actually, it began with 35-year-old Rodman pressuring the inbounds pass, then sliding over to help Harper or Jordan with the ballhandler, who, whenever possible, was not Penny Hardaway.

“They weren’t letting me near the ball in the fourth quarter,” Hardaway said. “Scottie was right in my face. They wanted Dennis [Scott] and Nick [Anderson] to handle the ball. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get into our offense that way.”

“It was pretty wild,” added Orlando’s Jon Koncak. “I don’t know if we got the ball more than three-quarters the way up the court for about three or four minutes. They were all over us.”

When the Magic managed to get the ball into the front court, a double-team involving Harper or Jordan and Pippen was waiting.

“We were able to get them in the coffin corners right as they crossed halfcourt,” Jordan said. “They had trouble handling the press; we sensed that, so we turned it up.”

It took time to get the ball to Shaquille O’Neal, which meant he had little to work for a shot against a double-team. And the Magic was four of 19 from three-point range.

At the other end, there was Jordan, shooting a fallaway jump shot or driving and drawing fouls. He scored 25 of his 35 points in the second half, 17 in the third quarter.

An 18-point deficit fell before a 26-5 surge over 10 minutes, and an Orlando answer was countered with a 9-0 run in which the Magic had three turnovers and missed three shots.

“Michael made a lot of shots; offensively, we rode him in,” Pippen said. “But it was a team effort on the defensive end. Our press really caused turnovers and created offense for us.”

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The Magic hoped Grant’s hyperextended left elbow would heal in time for Games 3 and 4.

Instead, the star forward who helped the Bulls win three NBA titles before signing with Orlando last season was declared out after being examined by Dr. Brian Barnard.

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Gary Payton led the Seattle SuperSonics in technical fouls during the season, and he was called for his second of the playoffs Monday night in a 91-87 victory over the Utah Jazz.

So what?

“I’m Gary,” he said. “I’m not going to change. I’m Gary. That’s how I play. The guys know how I am.”

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This is the third trip to the conference finals in the past five years for the Jazz, but Karl Malone, John Stockton & Co. have never been able to get past this round and it gnaws at them, particularly as they deal with their younger teammates, who have played poorly in the first two games against Seattle.

“You hope guys realize where we’re at, that it takes only four wins to get to the finals,” Malone said. “What else do you need to get ready? Right now, this is a great opportunity. Twenty years from now you’ll look back and say, ‘Damn, we should have.’ But that ain’t good enough.”

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Spencer Stolpen, 46, has stepped down as president of the Charlotte Hornets. . . . The New York Knicks gave a two-year contract to Jeff Van Gundy, who coached the team after Don Nelson was fired. . . . Former Boston Celtic coach Chris Ford interviewed for the vacant Milwaukee Bucks’ coaching position.