The memories are indelible, the heartache still there and the margins of defeat will forever be 14 points in Game 6 and four points in Game 7.
Time, history, even an NBA title can`t change that.
For five straight seasons, the Chicago Bulls were the only team in the NBA to win at least 47 games and advance into the playoffs.
But then, in the 1974-75 playoffs, came the crushing losses to Golden State in the Western Conference finals-at home in Game 6, in Oakland for Game 7. In both games, the Bulls held leads, including an 11-point bulge in the third quarter of Game 7.
”At the end,” said that team`s scorer, Bob Love, ”the bottom just seemed to fall out. It truly seemed like a nightmare.”
”I remember,” said the Bulls` go-to guy, Chet Walker, ”that we blew it. I remember that we had it and just let it slip away. It still hurts.”
”I don`t like,” said the steady center, Tom Boerwinkle, ”to look back on my career and dwell on negatives. But, obviously, that was a very low point.”
The next season, in 1975-76, the Bulls won 24 games. Three seasons later, the core of that team-Walker, Love, Norm Van Lier, Boerwinkle, Jerry Sloan-disbanded.
– – –
Sixteen seasons later, on a Wednesday night in the Great Western Forum, the Bulls wrapped up the franchise`s first world championship. And somehow, even if only through the unspoken bond of wearing the red and black for Chicago, former players found a kernel of redemption in the current team`s success.
”In a way, it makes up for all the years we came so close,” said Love, also a start on the `72-`73 team that led and lost Game 7 of the Western Conference finals to Los Angeles. ”I`m just real happy for the whole organization and the people of Chicago. They have been avid fans and, over the years, given the team the support they deserve.”
”Again, I don`t like to look at failures,” Boerwinkle said. ”But this win definitely helps get rid of all the frustrations of us not getting to that level.”
Each have opinions on how the Bulls were finally able to get over the hump. Boerwinkle, who got a close glimpse of the team as a radio analyst for 20 games, said it was a matter of increased roles.
”The first 30 games, it was still Michael and Associates,” he said.
”But the last 60 or so games, it was a real unit that only featured Jordan.”
”I just think it was a matter of maturity,” Walker said. ”Scottie Pippen and Horace (Grant) came into their own. And they have a wonderful bench that came together during the playoffs.”
The former Bulls have different views on similarities between the two teams, too.
”This is a better team than we were; I`m not afraid to admit that,”
said Walker. ”They are so much quicker, especially on defense. We were very methodical, tried to suffocate teams defensively.”
”They play a different style,” Love said. ”We were basically a patterned team, while they have better outside shooting and can run the floor more. But I think the similarity I see is the intensity. We went out to play every night, just like they did.”
”But the best thing is,” Love added, alluding to his teammate Sloan`s retired number, ”is that jersey is going to have some company with a championship banner.”
– – –
Walker is in the Bulls` locker room after the series-clinching win over the Lakers. He doesn`t attend many games anymore-his film production business in California doesn`t allow him to-but he got to this one, along with Van Lier.
He`s standing off to the side, just soaking up the mayhem, when a thought hits him. ”I was standing there getting deja vu,” he said. ”I was standing there thinking what might have been . . . just for a moment. Then I bounced back to reality.
”I don`t know all these guys, but I understand their feeling. We almost experienced it, and it was a great feeling to share in the enjoyment.
”We were the first team to put the franchise into the right direction, and we all feel like we`re still part of the organization. It`s still the Bulls; it`s still Chicago. I will always be a part of that. Oh, man, I was thinking so many things.”
