Bad Boys? The Bulls? Naw, couldn`t be.
But there were the Lakers, badly beaten in Game 2 of the NBA Finals in the Stadium Wednesday, airing some familiar complaints and promising vengeance.
”They were more physical,” said Magic Johnson. ”They attacked, and we didn`t. We`ve got to become more physical.”
Magic Johnson said that? He feels like hitting someone?
”We noticed Michael (Jordan) taunting our bench,” complained Byron Scott. ”It got us upset, and we`ll be ready at home.”
What`s going on here?
”It just shows how much each team wants to win the championship,” said Horace Grant. ”Eventually, yes, it`s going to become more physical.”
And that should start Friday in the Forum in Game 3. The Bulls tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1 with their resounding, 21-point victory Wednesday, sending the Lakers home quietly reminiscent of Bulls teams so used to leaving Detroit angry and promising revenge.
”As series go on and teams get a feel for each other, an animosity builds up,” said Bulls coach Phil Jackson. ”Personalities and
characteristics come into play, people have a bad day. It`s a natural thing to happen.”
But the Lakers, quiet Thursday when they canceled practice, apparently do not believe in this natural order of things.
They left Chicago angry that Scottie Pippen was able to get away with a manhandling of Johnson that would have gotten him arrested for assault anywhere else.
And they didn`t appreciate Jordan`s emotional histrionics after baskets, much of it performed directly in front of the Lakers` bench.
”That`s not something you do early in the series,” warned Scott.
No, no, you misunderstood, Jordan insisted before the Bulls went through a light workout Thursday after flying out of Chicago about 10 a.m. It was just a fountain of personal emotion bursting forth.
Didn`t we hear Bill Laimbeer say something like this recently?
”The Lakers thought I was taunting them, but I was not,” Jordan said.
”It was a self-motivation. I was excited over what I just did, and I don`t see anything wrong with that.
”I wasn`t saying anything to any of those players. I have too much respect for them as people and as a team, and I would never do that. The fist motions, the things players do in those situations, I never did it toward anybody. I never said anything toward anybody.
”It was all my self-confidence. When you make a big play, you feel that momentum, that enthusiasm, `Oh, yeah,` that type of stuff. I didn`t say one thing to them. I saw Byron said I was taunting, but I didn`t.
”But then again, they can use this as motivation for themselves. But I`m not going to give them the satisfaction of saying that`s what I was trying to do. I was just enthused about the situation and what we were doing.”
Which was whipping the Lakers a few days after everyone seemed to have given up the Bulls for dead because they lost the series opener at home. And, then again, there was all that talking Jordan did against Detroit in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals when the Bulls could have turned up their toes again against the Pistons.
”Michael always baits people,” said Jackson. ”He likes to talk and does a good job of that, but I just thought everyone was being aggressive.”
Everyone on the Bulls, anyway.
The Bulls won Game 2 for several reasons, the least of which was they put down more shots than a crew of dockworkers after quitting time.
Pippen, switched defensively on Johnson after Jordan picked up his second foul early, chased Magic like a hound after the fox. Jackson declined to say how much he`d go with Pippen on Johnson again, but it`s something the Bulls had long planned.
Jackson`s primary defensive philosophy, which worked so well against Detroit, is to pressure upcourt and try to take the ball out of the point guard`s hands. That forces it into the hands of someone less experienced in making the right decisions and forces a team into its offense late, thus limiting its options.
It`s harder to do against Johnson because he`s so tall, but Pippen could match his size and strength. And even though that forced Jordan onto center Vlade Divac, the Lakers never could figure a way to capitalize. They should by Friday.
Jordan also began running the team from the point-guard position more, although that is not uncommon for the Bulls in parts of games. That, too, is something the Lakers might attack because Jordan is not a great passer from the point-guard position.
But mostly it was a superior defensive effort, the kind the Bulls have become so used to in holding opponents under 100 points in 12 of 14 playoff games this season, that assured the margin of victory.
”We just were a lot more aggressive,” said Bill Cartwright. ”We were active and quicker to the ball, and I don`t think they had an open jump shot without a hand in their face or someone running at them.
”We forced them to do different things with the ball because they didn`t have quite as much time to run their offense. But it wasn`t like anyone was getting beaten up or thrown to the floor. Actually, they got called for the only flagrant foul.”
And the Lakers didn`t much like that call, either, complaining about how it allowed the Bulls a four-point play at a key juncture in the third quarter when they went on to open up the game.
”Scott didn`t deserve that foul,” agreed Jordan.
But that`s how things are when you`re at home. And the Bulls realize it will be hard to hold the Lakers to the 89.5 points per game they`ve limited them to in the first two games.
”They`ll feel more comfortable and open it up more at home,” said Jackson. ”It usually is a higher-scoring effort for them, so we`ll do all right if we play good defense and rebound well and take care of the ball. We`ll play it close to the chest.”
But without too much banging.
”We`ve learned to be aggressive and tough,” said Grant, ”but we can`t learn anything from the Pistons. Nothing worthwhile, anyway.”
