The last one, Game 3 back on Sunday, was like watching a pair of guys work their way through a flea market. One moment they were seeing if that tiffany lamp worked with that piece of Colonial furniture. The next, if that vest out of the Roaring ’20s went with those bell bottoms of the ’60s.
That is the way the Bulls’ Phil Jackson and the Suns’ Paul Westphal operated back on Sunday, and they produced three significant creations. One featured 6-foot-1-inch Suns point guard Kevin Johnson partnered with 6-6 Michael Jordan. The second featured any number of Bulls backing off and waiting for their star to take advantage of that mismatch. The last, and most significant, featured a defensive vacuum around Suns shooting guard Dan Majerle, who took advantage of it by delivering a half-dozen threes.
“I think we kind of forgot about him,” Jordan said later of Majerle. “When I went to KJ, either B.J. (Armstrong) or Scottie (Pippen) forgot to focus on him.”
“The cross-match hurt us,” added Bulls assistant Tex Winter early Wednesday night. He was talking of Jordan having to stay with Johnson defensively, not being able to then cross over and match up with Majerle. “That was smart strategy on their part. That’s the big adjustment we have to make.”
“But cross-matching demands communication,” concluded John Bach, another Bulls assistant, minutes later. “We were a little slow picking up matchups in Game 3, and paid a heavy price for it. We have to be more vigilant tonight.”
The Bulls were vigilant in the hours that followed to put themselves just a Friday night win away from their third consecutive title. For Westphal went back to the flea market, rummaged around a few more displays and emerged with even more unlikely creations.
He started 6-7 Richard Dumas on Jordan, with Johnson back on Armstrong and Majerle-Jordan’s original shadow in the Finals-on Pippen. Then, less than four minutes later, Johnson was back on Jordan and Dumas on Armstrong. Finally, before the first quarter’s end, Majerle was on Jordan and Johnson on Armstrong and Dumas on Pippen.
“I anticipate we’ll take advantage of their (strange matchups more),” Jordan promised before this evening’s start.
“Offensively, I don’t worry about it. That’ll take care of itself,” Winter said. “But we have to run off and find the other guy (on the defensive end).”
Offensively, Jordan did indeed take care of it by torching whichever Sun offered himself up. He would not wait until the fourth quarter as he did on Sunday, and quickly he used the experience advantage he held over Dumas, the height advantage he held over Johnson, the quickness advantage he held over Majerle.
That was one adjustment the Bulls made turning Jordan loose, and another, even bigger one, came at the defensive end. They did indeed cross-match, they scattered and scampered and found the man they sought no matter who had been guarding them moments earlier.
They could not do that all the time, that was impossible. One Suns possession ended with Jordan on Dumas, Grant on Majerle, Pippen on Charles Barkley. Another with Jordan on Johnson, Pippen on Majerle, Armstrong on Dumas. But those were exceptions, because almost always Jordan stuck with Majerle and Armstrong stuck with Johnson and Pippen stuck with the rookie Dumas.
Jordan, most importantly, stuck ardently with Majerle, continually controlled Majerle. The importance of this manifested itself clearly when Jordan was resting on the bench late in the first half. Pippen switched over to the Suns’ guard, attended to Majerle less than vigilantly, and on two straight Phoenix possessions in just 33 seconds, Majerle burned him with a pair of threes.
All night, to complement his offensive outburst, Jordan hung on Majerle, harrassed Majerle, clung so closely to Majerle that not even a razor blade could have been slipped between them. His tenacity muted Majerle, it smothered Majerle, it all but stripped Majerle from the Suns’ offense.
This was dirty work, hardly as spectacular as his mad dashes to the basket, but this night Jordan did it. He cross-matched on defense, matched on defense what he produced on offense. In the end, he proved once again that no matter what Westphal pulled from the flea market stall, it was no match at all for what Michael Jordan could create.
