There’s a Final Chapter for Bulls

We’ve heard so much conjecture, hand-wringing and wailing over the potential retirement of Michael Jordan during the past few years--not to mention the fact that we’ve already seen him retire before--that it was easy to become numb to the idea.

Suddenly, in the time it took Jordan to stumble and fall on the way to the hoop and another trip to the NBA finals Friday night, we faced the prospect of watching Jordan’s Last Game.

If the Chicago Bulls lost to the Indiana Pacers Sunday, it was possible Jordan could walk off the court for the last time.

This wasn’t about the dramatization produced by NBC, which must contend with the thought of Jordan following Jerry Seinfeld out the door and taking the ratings with him. (Could they show any more close-ups of him sitting on the bench Sunday?).

This wasn’t about the state of the NBA and how it will survive without Jordan. I seem to remember the league scheduling games and crowning champions when Jordan was gone the last time, and it will continue to do so in the future.

This was about losing the single greatest sporting pleasure this nation has enjoyed for the past decade. Jordan’s career encompassed the growth of cable television and satellite dishes. It has never been easier to see a superstar no matter where you are, and Jordan always gave us a reason to watch.

And so we watched again on Sunday.

We watched Jordan play a Game 7 for the first time since 1992. And we saw how much has changed since then.

In 1992 he was inspired to play that Game 7 by the words of his father and scored 42 points to lead the Bulls past the New York Knicks.

That was when his father was alive. That was when Jordan could take over games at will. Although he has put up his share of memorable performances the past three years, his struggles in the latter stages of the playoffs have come with increasing frequency. Sunday, he made only nine of 25 shots--missing seven in a row during one stretch--and finished with a modest 28 points in Chicago’s 88-83 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

But as long as he has more games he has more chances to go for 50 points once again, if for no other reason than for old-time sake. And we have more chances to enjoy the simple pleasure of watching the best to ever play the game of basketball.

It won’t be the highlight plays that we’ll miss. Those have been captured on videotape and replayed so often we have them etched in our minds.

We’ll miss the effort he puts forth on every trip down the court. The way he gets down in his defensive stance and locks up his man. The way he gives that little shake before he shoots his fallaway jump shot. The small details.

A wave of nostalgia had me digging through the closet to find all the old Jordan videotapes. From prepackaged highlight tapes such as “Come Fly With Me,” to his 63-point game against the Celtics in the ’86 playoffs (thank God for Classic Sports Network) and a 14-year-old tape from the 1984 Olympics (Digger Phelps, doing the color commentary for ABC, gave an understated prediction for the ages: “The Chicago Bulls will love him”).

Going back through time on the tapes gave reminders of what has changed. The shorts are baggier, the body has filled out, the hairline has receded, then disappeared completely.

The one thing that remained constant was the look in his eyes. Of all the privileges a press pass has afforded me, none has been greater than the chance to sit courtside and look into Jordan’s eyes during a playoff game. It’s an intensity unmatched by any athlete.

Even those who have never seen him up close, or never seen him in person at all get to share in his greatness. Thanks to television, his games become the talk of the global village.

Spectacular efforts make people pick up the phone and call their buddies. Or, these days, fill up Internet chat rooms.

The day after he gave the Knicks that double-nickel five games into his comeback in 1995, I had to talk to a woman in the accounting department of my newspaper. Our conversations had always been strictly limited to whether the company owed me money or I owed the company money. This time, as I started to walk away, she said, “Did you see that game by Jordan last night?”

How many times has that question been asked, and by how many people?

How many more chances will we get to ask it?

Sunday’s victory assured at least four more. If we’re lucky, maybe another seven.

This Game 7 was a wake-up call, a reminder that it’s time to start counting the days, games and minutes.

If it ended Sunday it would have been too soon. Whenever it does end, it will be too soon. At least it isn’t over yet. Sunday was a good day for sports.

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Playoff Scoring Leaders

NBA career playoff scoring leaders (through May 31):

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No. Player Points 1. Michael Jordan-x 5,786 2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 5,762 3. Jerry West 4,457 4. Larry Bird 3,897 5. John Havlicek 3,776 6. Magic Johnson 3,701 7. Hakeem Olajuwon-x 3,674 8. Elgin Baylor 3,623 9. Wilt Chamberlain 3,607 10. Karl Malone-x 3,541

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