Although John Starks can play the role to perfection, he still doesn’t consider himself a villain in this town.
He’s the one Knick that the Stadium crowd loves to hate, but Starks said he could do without that reputation after the Knicks failed to end the Bulls’ season Friday with a 93-79 loss in Game 6.
“If they like that here, then they like it,” Starks said. “I’m no villain. I’m a human being.”
Starks, the human being, was up to his old tricks early in the game, using his body any way he could to agitate the Bulls. His peculiar fouls and 18-point effort weren’t enough to overcome 37 percent shooting by the Knicks, who were outrebounded 52-35.
Starks started out by getting called for a flagrant foul with 2 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter after hacking Pete Myers on a layup attempt. Then Starks blatantly tripped Scottie Pippen near midcourt to stop a Bulls fast break with 2:45 left in the half. He picked up his second personal on the play, and hundreds of accusatory fingers pointed at him from the stands.
The Knicks looked like goners when Pippen slammed one home in Patrick Ewing’s face with 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter. A technical foul on Pippen negated his ensuing free throw, and Hubert Davis hit the tech on the other end to keep the Bulls lead at 17. Then the momentum swung in the other direction.
Ewing (26 points) led the comeback charge, capitalizing on a four-minute scoreless drought by the Bulls to pull New York back in it.
A 9-0 Knicks run pulled them to within eight with 2:54 left in the third, and during the rally, Starks made a point of walking down court pounding his heart with one hand and pointing at omnipresent Knicks fan Spike Lee in his front-row seat. Lee, wearing a Starks jersey, responded by jumping out of his seat, pointing back and making everyone in the Stadium aware he was in the house.
Two minuters later, the Bulls had built their lead back to 16, and the heart-pounding and pointing came to an abrupt halt.
By the time Starks fouled out with 4:54 left, the Bulls had a safe 13-point lead, and a deafening roar accompanied his exit.
The Bulls had beaten the Knicks in eight straight playoff games at the Stadium heading into Game 6, but New York’s Doc Rivers insisted beforehand that the raucous Stadium atmosphere had nothing to do with the losing streak.
“It’s because Chicago is a good team,” Rivers said. “I tell everyone, it’s just like Boston Garden. That used to be tough to play in until Larry Bird and Kevin McHale left. Now it’s not that tough anymore. The Stadium wasn’t that tough to play in before Michael Jordan came here.”
The Knicks were so confident of a victory that forward Charles Smith was busy practicing his “lasts” during the morning shootaround.
“I took a free throw and I said: `Well, I got the last practice free throw in the Chicago Stadium,’ ” Smith said. “I took a three-pointer and said: `Hit the last three-pointer in Chicago Stadium. I was doing it all-`This is the last time a team brings it in the huddle.’
“So I was doing that all practice long. It was fun, and it’d be nice to close it out here.”
So the Knicks said goodbye to the Stadium. Rivers, who played his high school ball at Proviso East, lamented the fate of the old barn.
“It’s too bad that the Grant Hills and the Glenn Robinsons won’t ever have a chance to play in this building,” he said. “So they could say that they played on the same court that Michael Jordan and (Norm) Van Lier and (Jerry) Sloan played on.”
