Flying Sorcerer Casts His Spell

CHICAGO — The Age of Mike (continued):

Once upon a time, there lived a wizard so powerful, all the people marveled at the wonders he worked. He was young and handsome, besides, and much beloved.

In due course, however, his feats began to seem commonplace. Besides, his image appeared in everyone’s cottage every 15 minutes, hawking one product or another--would you believe cologne in sneaker stores?--and people began to ask, what’s the age limit on wizardry, anyway?

News flash: It hasn’t come yet.

Michael I, Michael the I and Only, Michael Jordan still rules at 34, winner of five championships in his last five full seasons plus five scoring titles, five finals MVPs and three regular-season MVPs. It’s still the Age of Mike, the tournament of Mike, the league of Mike, the game of Mike.

“Michael’s legacy continues,” Scottie Pippen said after Jordan went for the standard 39 points Friday night and, when double-teamed, passed to Steve Kerr for the title-winning basket.

“As long as he plays, he’s going to continue to amaze us. . . . I just can’t see the end of the rainbow.”

“He’s the greatest basketball player I’ve ever seen play,” Utah’s hard-bitten coach, Jerry Sloan, said. “I don’t know what you can say. He’s such a great player, he’s such a competitor. It makes it so enjoyable, not to lose, but to see people compete.”

Compete, everyone did, right to the bitter/sweet end.

In Chicago, of course, everyone was doing the usual number before Game 6, dispatching 6,000 cops in anticipation of the victory, scheduling the celebration (10 a.m. Sunday at Grant Park), pretaping “Celebrate with Dignity” commercials, and following what promises to be--thankfully--the last Dennis Rodman distraction in the finals.

(Briefly. Rodman said he didn’t mean to defame any religion, Phil Jackson said Rodman probably didn’t know Mormonism is “a religious cult or sect or whatever it is,” and Rodman’s agent, Dwight Manley, said it was a First Amendment issue.)

Meanwhile, back in Salt Lake City, the Jazz players still wore a lean and hungry look.

Karl Malone was asked Thursday what would happen to the Jazz if it let this opportunity get past.

“We’ll see,” the Mailman said. “It ain’t passed yet.”

It didn’t pass easily. As it had in Game 1 here, the Jazz led most of the way, by nine points early in the fourth quarter before a lineup of Pippen and four reserves, most of whom had been struggling for weeks, put together an unexpected 10-0 run. Before Jud Buechler made a three-point basket to end the third quarter, Jordan and Pippen had scored 47 of the team’s 61 points.

In the last eight minutes, Jordan scored 10 points. At the end when the Jazz double-teamed, he passed to Kerr.

After Game 1, Sloan was pilloried for playing Jordan one-on-one when he made his game-winning 19-footer. OK, now they’ve tried it both ways and lost both ways.

With Jordan, the best defense is always prayer. With Jordan in the finals, there is no defense.

“You know, the very first one against Los Angeles, [Jordan] was outstanding,” Bull Coach Phil Jackson said. “I think he averaged 40, actually, in that series but in that very first series, in the fifth game against the Lakers, Michael had to deliver the ball--like he delivered it tonight to Steve Kerr--to John Paxson to help us win.”

Yeah, and Jordan made the 15-footer at the end of Game 3 against the Lakers to send it into overtime, after which the Bulls won, turning that series around.

The next spring, he greased Clyde Drexler of Portland, who was supposed to be as close to a peer as he had. The spring after that, he averaged 41 in the victory over the Suns, etc.

Late Friday night, Jordan appeared in the interview room. Usually, he makes an elegant entrance, about 45 minutes after the game as the nation’s press watches its deadlines go by, nattily dressed in suit, tie and diamond hoop earring.

This time, he showed up early, in a baseball cap and T-shirt, clutching a huge jeroboam of champagne.

“That’s the biggest one yet,” a Chicago reporter said.

“We get six,” Jordan said, looking forward to his 35th year, “it’s going to get bigger.”