|
Shining Moment
Michael Jordan dazzled as the Chicago Bulls won their first NBA title
by Jack McCallum
Issue date: June 24, 1991
| |
(Andrew D. Bernstein)
|
After answering every bell for the Chicago Bulls this season,
including the ultimate one that tolled for the Lakers in Los Angeles
last week, Michael Jordan was apologetic for getting a late start on
the first day of his summer vacation. ''Alarm clock malfunction,''
said Jordan last Saturday morning, sliding into a booth at a
restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, not far from Jordan's
home. ''Can you believe I missed my first tee time? The official
beginning of the golf season?'' He shook his head in amazement.
Jordan was scheduled to play a second round that afternoon at one
o'clock, and his breakfast companion suggested that maybe, just
maybe, he was too tired for 36 holes, considering the events of the
preceding few days: an NBA championship on Wednesday followed by an
all-night victory party in Los Angeles, a mini-homecoming ceremony on
his lawn on Thursday, a motorcade and rally in downtown Chicago on
Friday and an overall emotional catharsis that, in scope and
intensity, surprised even Jordan.
''Too tired for golf?'' said Jordan on Saturday, genuinely
perplexed. ''You're kidding, right?''
And so this is Michael Jeffrey Jordan in late spring of 1991 — an
indefatigable 28-year-old still enchanted with games. But he is
somehow different, somehow transformed. The Bulls' first NBA title,
secured with a 108-101 victory over the Lakers in Game 5 of the
Finals at The Forum, didn't earn for Jordan — as it did for such
teammates as Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant and John Paxson — much
more fame. Jordan has had an astounding measure of that since he came
into the NBA in 1984. Neither will the title do much for his bank
account, as it will for Pippen's; last Friday Pippen received a five-
year contract extension worth $18 million. Jordan will average about
$3.7 million per year from the Bulls over the next five years
(undoubtedly the best deal for a franchise in all of sport), and his
earning power off the court (in excess of $10 million a year) defies
credulity. He says he expects to reduce, not increase, his
off-the-court commitments.
''The difference,'' said Jordan, tapping his chest, ''is in here.''
This feeling of inner peace means no more moments of doubt,
however fleeting, no more wondering if he was a true winner like
Magic Johnson, Larry Bird or Julius Erving, all of whom have played
on teams that won NBA titles. ''I think people will now feel it's
O.K. to put me in the category of players like Magic,'' said Jordan,
pushing around waffles on his plate. ''Personally, I always felt that
in terms of intensity and unselfishness, I played like those type of
players. Some people saw that, but many others didn't. And the
championship, in the minds of a lot of people, is a sign of, well,
greatness. I guess they can say that about me now.''
It would be hard to say anything less after Jordan's masterly
performance throughout the five games of the Finals, the last four of
which were Chicago victories. He scored with metronomic consistency,
averaging 31.2 points — a 36-point effort in Game 1 was his high, a
28-point night in Game 4 his low — and a .558 shooting percentage
from the floor. (By contrast, Magic, who recognizes a good shot
better than anyone, averaged 18.6 points and .431.) Jordan also
averaged 11.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.4 blocked
shots. And his energetic defensive play, along with that of Pippen
and Grant, the other two members of what assistant coach Johnny Bach
calls the Wild Bunch, was the key to the series.
In sum, Jordan turned in what was probably the finest all-around
performance in a five-game Finals series, of which there have been 11
in NBA history. Jerry West, for example, had more points (33.8
average) in the five-game 1965 Finals between his Lakers and the
Celtics, but Jordan set five-game records for assists (57 to Bob
Cousy's 53 in 1961) and steals (14 to Terry Porter's 10 in 1990). And
few guards have grabbed more rebounds, Magic being one of them: He
got 40 rebounds in the series to Jordan's 33. When NBA officials
collected the ballots for MVP near the end of Game 5, several members
of the media asked, ''Are you serious?'' Jordan won unanimously.
The Bulls were also helped by a sound game plan. Coach Phil
Jackson sniffed out the Lakers' true weakness — the lack of a
penetrator who can consistently break down the defense off the
dribble — and massed his defensive strength to double- and sometimes
triple-team L.A.'s post-up players. The Lakers could muster no
counterpunch, and time after time they mindlessly threw the ball into
the post, only to have Sam Perkins, James Worthy or Vlade Divac —
their vision ''occluded,'' as Bach put it, by the pressure —
dribble frantically ( out to the corner, taking precious seconds off
the 24-second clock. L.A. coach Mike Dunleavy finally confused the
Bulls somewhat by giving playing time to the young and talented Elden
Campbell and Tony Smith in Game 5, but that strategy was more or less
forced upon him by injuries to Worthy and Byron Scott. There is no
doubt that the Lakers, in contrast to the healthy Bulls, were tired
and somewhat battered after an enervating six-game Western Conference
final against the Portland Trail Blazers. But there is also no doubt
that Jackson decisively outcoached Dunleavy when it counted.
Best of all for the Bulls, Jordan's performance, while sometimes
show- stopping, was never showy. (Well, ignore, if you can, the
moment late in Game 5 when he blindly tossed in a 12-foot bank shot
over his shoulder as he walked to the foul line.) That gave plenty of
room for the talents of Pippen, who scored a game-high 32 points in
the clincher, and Paxson, who shot a remarkable .653 from the field
for the series, mostly on radarlike jumpers from the perimeter. In
Game 5, Paxson broke the game open when he scored 10 points in the
final four minutes, mostly on long, clutch jumpers. Grant, a gutty
power forward in a small forward's body, epitomized the Bulls' team
effort; he didn't attempt a single bad shot in five games and
averaged an economical 14.6 points on .627 shooting. No wonder the
Bulls' .527 team shooting percentage tied the 1989 Pistons for the
best in NBA Finals history. And no wonder Jordan insisted that the
other four starters, Pippen, Grant, Paxson and center Bill
Cartwright, be included in the now traditional ''I'm Going to Disney
World'' commercial filmed shortly after Game 5, for which they
divided $100,000.
But, clearly, this was Jordan's show — ''a tribute to Michael,''
as Jackson put it. It may have started out as the Magic and Michael
Finals, but Jordan had left the ol' purple-and-gold warrior in the
dust by the time the final buzzer sounded. Magic knew it, too. He
calmly answered question after question about Jordan in the locker
room and never showed a trace of jealousy or pique, a tranquillity
forged at least in part by his nine Finals appearances and five
championship rings. Those who had visited the Chicago locker room
reported Jordan's teary reaction to winning the championship and
asked Johnson if he, too, had felt so emotional after his first
title, way back in his rookie year of 1980.
''No, I didn't react that way, but there's a good reason for the
difference,'' said Magic. ''I was so young [20], so unschooled in
what it took to win an NBA championship. So I know exactly what
Michael is feeling now because I felt that way later in my career,
when it took so much more effort and sweat to win it.''
Over breakfast on Saturday, Jordan said that Magic's analysis was
correct.
''After we won the NCAA championship in my freshman year ((at
North Carolina in 1982)) I felt happy, but not all that emotional,''
said Jordan. ''I remember seeing Jimmy Black and a few of the other
guys really crying, and I'm thinking, What's going on? This is
supposed to happen, right? You come to college and you win a
championship.
''But in the pros I've seen it from the opposite side. All the
struggles, all the people saying, 'He's not gonna win,' all those
little doubts you have about yourself. You have to put them aside and
think positive. I am gonna win! I am a winner! And then when you do
it, well, it's just amazing.''
Still, even Jordan was surprised by the tidal wave of emotion that
struck him as he entered the locker room after Game 5 and knelt for
the team prayer. He sobbed, at times almost uncontrollably, as his
wife, Juanita, and father, James, sat beside him, massaging his arms
and shoulders. He had almost stopped crying when a friend led a
smiling woman into the circle. ''Michael, it's your mother,'' the
friend said. And he broke down again as Evelyn Jordan kissed him,
patted his cheek and retreated into the background. ''I figured he'd
react that way because it took so much hard work,'' said Evelyn.
Recalling the moment, Michael again seemed touched. ''You go through
that as a kid,'' he said. ''Your mother comes over to console you
about something, and that makes you cry even more. But my mom? She
handled herself like a movie star.''
Which is how Jordan was treated when he arrived back in Chicago at
4 p.m. Thursday. At least 100 well-wishers from his neighborhood and
beyond — ''Seems like everyone in Chicago knows my address,'' he
said afterward — had turned his front lawn into a minicarnival.
Letters, telegrams (one from North Carolina coach Dean Smith),
balloons, posters and drawings were tacked to his front door, and
there were flowers and plants — ''Enough to open up a florist
shop,'' he said — piled up on his porch. He shook his head.
''Sometimes I can't believe my life is so crazy,'' he said.
As for the Bulls' immediate future, Jordan, predictably, had his
opinions. Over the past few seasons he had been outspoken in his
criticism of general manager Jerry Krause, and although early in the
playoffs he said he was willing to eat his words if the Bulls won the
title, he didn't sound quite so repentant on Saturday.
''I don't regret anything I said ((about Krause)), because I was
honestly expressing my feelings at the time,'' said Jordan. ''Our
bench was not playing very well, and I thought we needed help.
Fortunately, they responded. But I think next year we'll have to
build on it to stay strong.''
The big questions among the frontline players are Cartwright and
Paxson, both of whom are unrestricted free agents. The Bulls are
expected to make Cartwright an offer, though it remains to be seen if
he will accept one instead from a team closer to his Northern
California roots, such as Golden State or Sacramento. ''I think it's
going to be up to Bill,'' said Jordan.
There is no such ambivalence in his feelings about Paxson. ''Pax
signed his own contract with his play in the Finals, and if they
don't sign him, I will be one upset Bull,'' said Jordan. ''Anybody
playing beside me is going to have to knock down those shots that Pax
did in the Finals. We've always communicated well on the floor, but
in the Finals it was really something. I always knew where he was as
soon as I got double-teamed. And I know how he wants the ball —
waist-high and in rhythm. He gets it too high or too low, he doesn't
shoot it. I want Pax around, that's for sure.''
And Jordan will probably get him. Krause had made no move on
Paxson as of last weekend, but the feeling is that the general
manager will make a solid offer and that Paxson will accept it. The
championship season was the first in the 25-year history of the
franchise, and Chicago fans will not take kindly to a major breakup.
As Jordan finished his breakfast on Saturday, a middle-aged man
approached his table sheepishly. ''I don't want to bother you for an
autograph, Mr. Jordan,'' he said, ''but I just have to thank you for
what you've done for Chicago.''
Indeed, the 1991 Finals will go down as a championship won for a
city that has given the NBA some of its finest moments over the
years. And it will go down as the series in which the Bulls'
supporting cast at last shrugged off its tag of ''the Jordanaries.''
But make no mistake about it — the victory belonged most of all to
Michael Jordan, who, for now at least, sits atop the basketball
world, higher even than Magic. And for those who felt that Jordan
was already the king, consider the 1991 Finals his coronation.
|
NBA Finals
