Last Dance Is a Twist

The going-away party either became longer or not quite the fond farewell they had hoped, seeing as the bash has to go mobile now, bound for Salt Lake City.

The Bulls expected to be in the process of saying goodbye to each other today, before the dismantling they seem to feel is inevitable, not to Chicago. Except then it came time to actually play Game 5 of the NBA finals Friday night and the itinerary suddenly changed, along with the mood, both victims of the 83-81 win by the Jazz that got Utah within 3-2 and at least one more game at the Delta Center.

That little matter of the Bulls needing one more win for one more title--a third in a row and a sixth in the last eight seasons--had been handled around Chicagoland as an assumption. And then the team played right along, suffering through lapses in concentration, shooting 38.7% and getting hurt in a big way by Karl Malone for the first time in the series.

It all would have been so grand if they didn’t have to play the game. Oh, yeah. That.

Michael Jordan heading into retirement with a victory, if he’s really not coming back.

Scottie Pippen heading to the Phoenix Suns or wherever as a free agent with a victory, if he’s really leaving.

Coach Phil Jackson heading to Montana for a year of relaxation and other spiritual connections, if he’s really not coming back.

Instead: Salt Lake City on Sunday night.

“I know no one wanted to make this trip, especially the players,” Pippen, outstanding in previous outings in the series, said after missing 14 of 16 shots and offsetting the 11 rebounds and 11 assists. “But we have to do it. And it’s very disappointing on our part that we have to do it. We wanted the season to end tonight.

“I think it was just a lot of distractions that sort of took our focus away from what we had to do tonight. We just didn’t come out and have that same type of intensity we had the last couple of games. . . . Tonight was a very important game for us and we needed everything to work in our favor. We just weren’t the aggressor out there. We just were sort of back on our heels.”

They were just sort of elsewhere. Jordan, when asked if he had been presumptuous enough to schedule 18 holes for today, expecting the off-season to be underway, replied:

“I really didn’t make a tee time, because I anticipated drinking so much champagne I wouldn’t be thinking about golf.”

Champagne this.

“The Jazz players are sitting in their hotel watching all the stories about Grant Park [site of the victory party scheduled for Monday] and the police telling people not to riot. The whole city seemed to be poised for a celebration, and I’m sure it ticked them off.”

Actually, no Jazz player said it bothered them. Inwardly, that could have been another matter.

Chicago fell behind by eight points with nine minutes left, then mounted a comeback that, in a perfect Bull world, would have meant that walk into the sunset after all. So it was that they trailed only 78-76 after Jordan’s two free throws with 1:13 remaining, part of his 28 points that came despite nine-of-26 shooting.

Malone, en route to 39 points and nine rebounds, made a 12-footer to make it 80-76, but made a major defensive mistake on the ensuing possession by fouling Chicago’s Toni Kukoc on a three-point shot. Kukoc making all three tries from the line would have made it a one-point game with 18.9 seconds left, but he missed the final attempt, which would turn out to be critical.

Antoine Carr, completing a huge contribution off the bench with 12 points and maybe earning a promotion to starting center for Game 6, made two free throws, and when Kukoc (who scored 30 points on 11-of-13 shooting, followed with a three-pointer, it got the Bulls only within 82-81 with 5.5 seconds to play.

Fouled intentionally, Jeff Hornacek missed one free throw and made one with 1.1 seconds remaining, setting up a last gasp by the Bulls. They called a timeout. Then a 20-second timeout. And then the Jazz called a timeout to set its defense.

When play finally resumed, after the ball had been knocked out of bounds on the first attempt to get it in, the Bulls had only 0.8 showing. It was long enough for Jordan to get off a shot, but not a good one, a 35-footer at the buzzer that fell short, along with his hopes for the ideal finish.

Now the Jazz players get their chance. Malone, after his great showing, could really remind the Bulls about the uncertainty of the future.

“It’s a big game, because obviously it was our backs to the wall,” Malone said. “But I’m not here to talk about Karl Malone and where it ranks. It ranks as a huge organization win, a team win.”

A party-stopping win.