This could be easier, but the Bulls wouldn’t have it any other way.
They want to win an NBA title the old-fashioned way. They want to earn it. Things get tougher from here, beginning with the New York Knicks Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series at the United Center.
For those of the Bulls who don’t understand this, Michael Jordan, bad back and all, has been all too happy to explain. This is the way it’s supposed to be. This is the way it has to be.
“It’s just like MJ said,” related forward John Salley. “We want to go through New York and we want to play Orlando. We want to play the top teams. It’s a matter of pride.”
The Knicks always seem to represent a necessary postseason rite of passage for the Bulls. If they get past the Knicks, they believe they can get past anybody. Six of their previous seven playoff trips have involved a series with New York.
When the Bulls won each of their three NBA championships, they had to go through the Knicks. They bumped them in the first round in 1991. It took the Bulls seven games in the second round when they won their second title. It took them six games in 1993 when they won their third title, as the Bulls dropped the first two games in New York before winning four straight in the Eastern Conference finals.
Many of the Knicks from those three series are still around, including Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks and Anthony Mason.
The Knicks ousted the Jordanless Bulls in seven games in the second round in 1994. But that didn’t do much to help the Knicks forget the other series. Bulls coach Phil Jackson doesn’t think the last seven years of the postseason rivalry matter much to any of his players, except for Jordan and Scottie Pippen–the only two Bulls left from the three series during the Bulls championship runs.
“This is a basketball club we’ve met six out of the last seven years,” Jackson said. “But many of the characters are still the same for the Knicks. Not too many are the same for the Bulls, so I think the Knicks have the biggest adjustments to make.”
The Knicks think it necessary to revert to their old ways this season after assistant Jeff Van Gundy took over for the fired Don Nelson in early March. Returning to their plodding, physical style of basketball, the Knicks handed the Bulls their worst loss of the season March 10, bopping them 104-72.
The Bulls still won the season series 3-1, though, including a 99-79 victory Jan. 23 in Madison Square Garden and a 107-86 victory March 21 at the United Center.
The Knicks are playing better basketball now after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. And missing from the last two meetings between the two teams was Oakley, a former Bull.
“We had a very good season against them, but we know that they were without Charles Oakley the last two games–(including the) one that they beat us at Madison Square Garden,” Jackson said. “We expect a very difficult game when the series starts Sunday.”
Jackson also expects a potentially volatile series, what with Dennis Rodman, Starks and Mason in the mix. Oakley has a way at getting under Rodman’s skin, which could be a key in the series. Rodman will get plenty of encounters with Mason, who already is mouthing off about Rodman. And Starks already has mouthed off about the Bulls, leading to Rodman mouthing off about Starks.
Get the picture?
“There are some hotheaded personalities on both ends of the floor,” Jackson said. “This (series) is going to get a very (close) eye from the league.”
There’s also Jordan’s back. Jordan has suffered through back spasms since the second quarter of Game 2 in the first-round series with the Heat. He has been getting treatment since the Bulls finished that sweep Wednesday.
The Knicks aren’t going to make it that easy. Never have, where the Bulls are concerned. They’re not even thinking of the Bulls, they of the 72-10 regular-season record, being huge favorites against the Knicks, they of the 47-35 regular-season record.
“I don’t want to get into that,” Ewing said. “That’s for the coaches to analyze. I’m not going to be sitting around and thinking about why they’re a good team. If I start to do that, I might as well walk out on the court and say, `Hey, this is yours.’ “
Ewing was talking about another title. The Bulls still have to get past the Knicks before they can really start talking about that.
Then again, Michael Jordan wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Nothing’s going to come easily,” Jordan said. “They know that we’ve had battles in the past and I’m pretty sure they have scouted us thus far. But that’s the purpose of the playoffs. Anything can happen in the playoffs.”
Especially when it comes to the Bulls and the Knicks.
