Bulls Again Try to Apply the Clincher

Ugly moments in local history:

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

The ’68 Democratic convention.

The great fire.

Wednesday and Friday.

So it is that the Chicago Bulls have been forced home to draw a line in the sand on their beach, suddenly trying to hold back the Seattle SuperSonics instead of simply brushing them aside. The aura of invincibility is gone, and the lead in the NBA finals may not be far behind.

Game 6 is tonight at the United Center, with the Bulls holding a 3-2 advantage but at the same time having trouble holding together. Ron Harper is hurting. Scottie Pippen is missing, a lot. Dennis Rodman is stewing.

The SuperSonics?

Loving every minute.

The Bulls had two chances to clinch in Seattle, and a sweep would have capped a record-breaking season, but then came 21- and 11-point losses, with Chicago scoring only 86 and 78 points. So, everyone is back here, unexpectedly to most considering Chicago had rolled in Game 3 at KeyArena for a 3-0 lead.

“They were a lot more confident,” SuperSonic guard Gary Payton said. “They thought they were on a roll. And we couldn’t hang with them. We weren’t really confident at that time. We were missing shots and having our heads down. Now we come home, make our shots and get our rhythm back. I think they’re a little bit different now.

“It took three games for us to realize we have to come out and play. Now our shots are dropping. A lot of people have a lot of confidence and it should have come a little earlier. It might be a different story in the series.”

It’s different enough anyway.

“We go there down 3-2, and if we get the next game nobody knows what’s going to happen,” Seattle’s Detlef Schrempf said. “The way we played the last two games and the way they played, we have a good chance.”

Added Shawn Kemp, summing up the mood: “The pressure is not on us. We are having fun right now. Two or three days ago, nobody thought this series would still be going on.”

But it is, for several reasons:

--The Bulls are looking like the oldest team in the league that they are, running out of gas and energy in the second half of the last two games. Part of the reason is that Harper’s left knee injury, officially listed as tendinitis but reportedly perhaps as severe as cartilage damage, has limited him to 14 minutes the last two games, forcing Pippen and Michael Jordan to play longer stretches.

Jordan went so far Friday night as to say the SuperSonics wanted the game more. The championship is on the line, it’s close in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls get out-desired?

--Pippen is 27 for 82 (32.9%) in the series, including six for 32 (18.8%) from three-point range. Steve Kerr, No. 2 in the league from behind the arc during the regular season at 51.5%, is at 15% (three for 20).

--The SuperSonics are finally taking care of the ball. Notorious for playing fast and loose, they have gone from about 18 turnovers during the postseason to a respectable 15 on Wednesday and then 11 on Friday.

Meanwhile, there’s really no explanation for Rodman, except that he’s Rodman. His SuperSonic-baiting was effective the first two or three games, but has since been replaced by problems for the Bulls: He can’t handle Kemp, who is playing like a superstar, and was visibly upset about being removed in the closing seconds of Game 5, sulking as he walked to the end of the bench.

“I’m not saying anything,” he later said, or didn’t say. “I don’t want to make any trouble.”

Good thinking. The Bulls already have enough of that.