A Do-or-Di Choice on Chicago Gala Night

What’s a mom to do?

One one hand, she was at a royal ball with 1,300 of her richest fellow citizens in all their finery. (A Cartier’s official said one of its clients owns $1.2 million worth of jewelry and was wearing it all). On the other hand, her son was playing a basketball game.

No contest. Michael Jordan’s mom walked out on Princess Di.

It’s true. With the city swooning at the visit of the Princess of Wales and fat cats vying for tickets to her charity gala at the Field Museum, Jordan’s mother, Deloris, said she’d be glad to attend but would have to leave early to make Mike’s game.

This being Chicago, everyone understood. Indeed, several fat cats said they were bringing miniature TVs too. However, according to royal protocol, no one is supposed to bail until the Princess does, leaving open the possibility of an international incident, the perception of a Bulls’ snub of the throne of England, or, worse, bad karma for the Bulls.

The Bulls, coming off an eight-day layoff, had enough problems but survived, blowing open a lackluster game in the fourth quarter to defeat the SuperSonics, 107-90, Wednesday night in the opener of the NBA finals.

“We understand,” said Seattle’s Gary Payton, unconvinced and unbowed after a six-for-17 shooting night. “We can play with this team. We can beat this team.

“They didn’t wear us down. We were right there. We played like we wanted to play.”

With a layoff as long as this one, in a city as mad as this one, this event could have approached a Super Bowl for hype. Every day brought new angles and contrived controversies.

Was Payton, the NBA’s defensive player of the year, not going to guard Jordan? Wasn’t that kind of chicken?

“I have nothing to prove to anybody,” Payton said. “It doesn’t matter whether I guard him or not. I’ve got the trophy at my house.”

The Bulls were on their best behavior but couldn’t resist a light dusting of contempt, Jordan sneering at the SuperSonics’ celebration after winning the Western finals. “I looked at TV and I thought they’d won the championship, the way they were jumping around.”

Just when things got their dizziest, Princess Di hit town on her charity tour and star-crazed Chicago swooned.

There was live TV coverage when Di visited a hospital. The local CBS outlet reported that tabloid assertions that she had cellulite in her legs were obviously wrong and promised a review of her fund-raising (“How much is really going to charity? 2 News looks at the books.”)

Di’s gala may have lived up to its billing, but like any proper Super Bowl, the basketball game fizzled.

Dennis Rodman, obviously looking to surpass his own past fashion statements, came out with a hairdo that looked as if he’d gone back to blond but had been jumped on the way to the game by a gang of spray paint-wielding graffiti artists.

Scottie Pippen came out rusty, missing six of his eight shots in the first half. Of course, it might not have been rust since he has been shooting that way for months.

Toni Kukoc, who had tried 36 three-pointers since the playoffs started, and missed 34, tried two more in the first half and dropped to two for 38.

But the Bulls awoke in the second half. Pippen finished with 21 points. Kukoc made back-to-back three-point shots in the fourth quarter and finished with 18. Jordan had a quiet 28.

Payton never did guard Jordan. In fact, Seattle Coach George Karl used just about everyone else he possibly could--Detlef Schrempf, Vincent Askew, Hersey Hawkins, David Wingate, holding Payton in reserve until it was too late.

The Bulls were relieved. The Sonics were disappointed but didn’t look overmatched. No one left feeling as though they’d played their best game. No one left intimidated. It was just one basketball game, after all.

“We’re in the beginning of the process,” Karl said. “If we can learn something about the Bulls farther on, we will get to a comfort zone and be very competitive.”

Mercifully, there is only one day off before Game 2 and no more galas in sight.