Worrisome cracks appeared in the Bulls’ facade as the 1996-’97 regular season came to an end. Not only did they lose three of their final four games to fall short of 70 wins, each of those losses came at the hands of a potential playoff opponent: the Detroit Pistons, the Miami Heat, and the New York Knicks. It was the Pistons’ first victory over the Bulls in 20 games, and the first ever for both second-year coach Doug Collins and third-year star Grant Hill. For the Heat, now coached by the Bulls’ old New York nemesis, Pat Riley, the win was their second of the season over the Bulls, allowing them to claim a split of the four-game series. The same went for the Knicks, who ended an 11-game skid in Chicago by winning Saturday night for the first time at the United Center. A team that likes to assert its dominance by sending mental messages at every opportunity, the Bulls were suddenly on the receiving end.
“When we’re full-strength,” Jordan said, “I think everyone knows how well we can play together.”
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In those final three losses the Bulls played like a team without even its pride at stake. As the games were of no consequence–the Bulls had long before clinched home-court advantage through the playoffs, and they’d reached 70 victories a year ago–Jackson reined in his team, especially on the defensive end, so that the opponents couldn’t study its tactics before the playoffs. This had a noticeable effect on the Bulls’ inspiration level. They played against the Pistons, the Heat, and the Knicks like a team with nothing to win. The Pistons and the Knicks, on the other hand, were fighting for preferable playoff positions, and their wins over the Bulls proved crucial. The Knicks clinched a third-place finish in the NBA’s Eastern Conference by beating the Bulls, thus earning the right to play the sixth-place Charlotte Hornets, who were edged out for the fifth seed by, yes, the Pistons. The Knicks also avoided a potential second-round meeting with the Bulls, putting themselves instead in the same bracket as the Heat.
If memory serves–and, with the help of the team’s media guide, it does–the Bulls staggered home at the end of the 1992-’93 season with two straight losses and three losses in their last five games. Yet they put themselves back together in the few days before the playoffs and swept the Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers before losing the first two games of the conference finals in New York to the Knicks. Then the Bulls took four straight from the Knicks (remember Charles Smith?) on the way to a six-game victory over Phoenix in the NBA finals for their third straight championship. The Bulls are hoping they can do the same now, with the help of a solid week of practice before tonight’s opening game against the Bullets.
Tiger Woods himself showed up for the Bulls’ last game, fresh from his Masters triumph and seated in the courtside seats behind the basket at the Knicks’ end of the court. He drew a standing ovation when tournament highlights were shown on the stadium TV screen, and rightly so. His performance in that event was the epitome of greatness, as at the age of 21 he set a four-day scoring record at Augusta National (18-under-par 270), with a 12-stroke margin of victory that smashed the old mark of 9 set by Jack Nicklaus and Ray Floyd. In the second and third rounds he made few if any mistakes, typically bombing par-five greens with a wedge after a booming drive, and finishing the third round with a shot that bounced long on the fringe of the green and then spun back to within inches of the cup. Some found fault with his shaky final round, but that was the round I enjoyed most. As anyone who plays golf knows, it’s the easiest game in the world when it’s easy and the hardest when it’s hard (just ask Greg Norman, who blew a six-shot lead to Nick Faldo last year). Woods, however, is not only a great driver but a truly talented improviser when he places himself in difficulty. I still remember how he hung on against all hope in his first U.S. Amateur final against Trip Kuehne, driving the ball into trouble hole after hole and somehow saving pars with an acrobatic short game before righting himself and charging for the victory. He followed the same pattern in the final round at Augusta, struggling early, holding himself together with some nervy saves, and then finishing strong. Having kept himself under tight control throughout the weekend, he lashed at the air with that trademark Tiger swipe when he sank the putt that gave him a record score.
