Jordan Makes Jazz Air Sick

He was described, before and after the Chicago Bulls regained control of the NBA finals, as lifeless, all glassy-eyed and slumped in a chair, in no condition to play a front nine let alone 44 minutes.

What they said about the appearance of Michael Jordan in between, during Chicago’s 90-88 Game 5 victory over the Utah Jazz, was something different.

Inspirational came up. So did courageous. Luc Longley, the Bulls’ center, deemed it one of the most amazing things he has seen. But the highest praise, that came from Jerry Sloan.

“First of all,” the Utah Coach said in response to a question about Jordan’s health, “I didn’t know he was sick.”

To his stomach. He felt almost as bad during the game as the Jazz did after it, after being victimized by Jordan playing through a day-old virus to get 38 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals in the victory that gave the Bulls a 3-2 lead in the NBA finals and the opportunity to win the title Friday night at home.

Jordan had lifted an entire team on his back, again. The originality came in the degree of difficulty. All day, any time he wasn’t on the court, he could barely carry himself.

“Literally, standing up [caused] nauseating and dizzy spells,” Bull Coach Phil Jackson said.

Yet there was Jordan, scoring 17 points in the second quarter to lead them back from a 16-point deficit, then coming back in the fourth quarter to tilt the game, and maybe the series, back in the Bulls’ direction a final time. His one free throw with 47 seconds left provided an 85-85 tie and then his three-pointer, after the offensive rebound following the miss from the line, made it 88-85 with 25 seconds remaining, a lead Chicago would not relinquish.

“It was more or less instincts,” Jordan said of the final stretch, after feeling close to passing out in the third quarter.

It had to be instincts. That’s all that remained in the fuel tank.

“I couldn’t breathe,” he said, describing his condition after the game. “My energy level was really low. My mouth was really dry. I just thought I was dehydrated.

“I gave a lot of effort and I’m just glad we won because if we’d lost, it would have been very devastating.”

The Bulls didn’t, putting themselves on the brink of a fifth title in seven years, because others provided a basketball I.V. When Greg Ostertag got the Jazz within 88-87 on a dunk with 15 seconds left, Toni Kukoc made a perfect touch pass to a wide-open Longley for a dunk with 6.2 seconds left.

The Bulls were left only to survive the final Jazz push, one that ended when Jeff Hornacek missed a three-pointer with about three seconds left. John Stockton, fouled after grabbing the offensive rebound, made one free throw for the final 90-88 margin.

Jordan said he began feeling sick about 3:30 a.m., then had to endure the day and the mania of the Delta Center. By the time the game came around, the Bulls, at least apart from Jordan, may have been finding solace in the considerable noise of the arena, what with the way the previous two days had gone.

There were questions about their conditioning and mental state, Jordan having declared himself physically and emotionally exhausted on Monday, before this illness.

Questions about how the Bulls would respond to the rarity of being on the ropes.

Their invincibility had become part of the past tense, a dramatic change of direction followed by two full days off to properly line up the magnifying glass. Maybe it was the penance for getting some much-needed rest.

“I don’t even turn the TV on, I don’t even read the papers during the finals because the last thing I need to hear is everybody’s analysis about what we’re doing wrong, what I’m doing wrong, what’s wrong with the Bulls,” said reserve guard Steve Kerr, urging calm in what had suddenly become a frantic series. “I’m just going out to play, and whatever happens, happens. And I think that’s how our team feels too.”

Not that any Bull needed reminding about their exact standing. They had lost at the Delta Center in November, the 12-game winning streak to open the season being broken in the process, then the first two games here of this series. And then they only fell behind by 14 points in the first quarter Wednesday.

The Jazz, getting another lift from its bench, twice had the lead to 16 early in the second, the latest at 36-20. The Bulls were six of 19 from the field.

But the Bulls recovered from there, and then some, using a 25-8 run to move ahead, 45-44, with 2:32 remaining in the half. The Jazz had the lead back by intermission, 53-49, but the Bulls at least had a game. They had a major victory soon enough, breaking Utah’s 23-game home winning streak and maybe its hopes in the process.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NBA FINALS

Utah vs. Chicago

Bulls lead series, 3-2

* Game 1: Chicago 84, Utah 82

* Game 2: Chicago 97, Utah 85

* Game 3: Utah 104, Chicago 93

* Game 4: Utah 78, Chicago 73

* Game 5: Chicago 90, Utah 88

* Friday--at Chicago, 6 p.m.

* Sun.--at Chicago, 4:30 p.m.-x

x-if necessary