Seattle SuperSonics coach George Karl can’t see into the future but he knew what was coming. Bulls coach Phil Jackson had a pretty good idea of what to expect too.
Almost 24 hours before the Sonics and Bulls stepped on the Key Arena floor for Game 5 of the best-of-seven NBA Finals series, Karl told reporters assembled for his team’s practice what was going to happen on Friday.
“You’re going to see the best game of the series,” he related, matter-of-factly. “It’s going to be a great game.”
It depends how you look at it. The Bulls and Sonics finally played on the same level for 48 minutes, but it was Karl’s team that came away smiling. That’s because Seattle pulled to within 3-2 in the series by handing the Bulls their first back-to-back losses since way back in February, topping the Bulls 89-78 here in Game 5.
The only consolation for the Bulls is the series now comes down to the home-court advantage the Bulls worked for all season with a 72-10 regular-season record. The series resumes with Game 6 at the United Center on Sunday. Game 7 is there, too, if it’s necessary. The way the Bulls played here in Games 4 and 5, they probably hope they don’t need a Game 7. They want to get this series over as soon as possible.
Still, no team has ever come from a 3-0 hole to win an NBA playoff series, despite the Sonics now winning two in a row.
“We’ve got a series now,” said Bulls coach Phil Jackson.
“We just didn’t want them to celebrate on our court,” said Sonics guard Gary Payton, who led Seattle with 23 points. He also had nine rebounds and six assists. “They have to go to Chicago for all that. But if we play the way we played in Games 4 or 5, we’ll be OK.”
For the Bulls it came down to a second straight horrible shooting night. The Bulls were an abysmal 3 of 26 (11.5 percent) from the three-point arc, missing 20 straight during one critical juncture of the second half. The Bulls weren’t much better when it came to two-pointers. They ended up shooting just 37.7 percent from the field for the game.
“This game was the biggest test we’ve ever had as a basketball team,” Karl said.
And when it came to Michael Jordan time–the fourth quarter–he couldn’t even bail the Bulls out. He led the Bulls with 26 points but scored just two points in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t all Jordan’s fault, though. After Scottie Pippen (1 of 8 on three-pointers) pulled the Bulls to within 71-69 with just about eight minutes left in the game, the Bulls’ offense went South. They missed their next eight shots–six from the three-point arc. This allowed the Sonics to use an 11-0 run to take an 82-69 run on a Hersey Hawkins (21 points) jumper.
When the Bulls finally hit their three-pointers it was too late. Back-to-back three-pointers from Pippen and Steve Kerr pulled the Bulls to within 84-77 with just over five minutes to go. When Luc Longley (11 points) split a pair of free throws with 1:54 to go, the Bulls were down 84-78. That was as close as they got.
“It was obviously our shooting,” Jackson said. “We just couldn’t knock the shots down.”
The Sonics attempted to break the game open in the third quarter when they took what, at that point, turned out to be the biggest lead of the game. The Bulls shot just 38.9 percent but the Sonics never led by more than seven points–51-44–on a pair of Shawn Kemp (22 points) free throws with 8:02 left in the quarter. Kemp was playing with a bruised sternum. But the Bulls trailed just 62-60 going into the final period.
Just like in Game 4, Karl decided to start with Payton on Jordan, hoping to frustrate Jordan like the Sonics did on Wednesday. And with Ron Harper still experiencing tendinitis in his left knee, Jackson opted to start Toni Kukoc for the second straight game. If Jordan was going to have to work for his shots, Jackson hoped Kukoc would relieve some of the scoring burden, especially since Scottie Pippen struggled in Game 4.
It was Kemp who sparked the Sonics early, scoring their first eight points. In the meantime, with Payton again hounding Jordan, Jordan simply got his teammates involved. Kukoc and Dennis Rodman combined to score nine of the Bulls’ first 11 points, helping the Bulls take a 14-8 lead with 7:17 left in the quarter when Kukoc found Jordan for an alley-oop layup. But the Bulls never could get any breathing room, turning the ball over four times in the period, leading to five Seattle points. And Pippen, again, got off to a bad start, missing his only shot attempt–a three-pointer.
Jordan also hounded Payton, who had just two points in the opening quarter. Both teams, with two of the better defenses in the league, made sure nobody got into a running game. There were just five fast-break points in the period–three of those went to the Sonics.
With the Sonics unable to run, the spotup shooting of Hawkins became crucial. The Bulls had an 18-12 lead with 1:48 to go in the quarter after Jordan scored over Nate McMillan. But Hawkins scored the last six points of the quarter, nailing a three-pointer and taking advantage of a Steve Kerr turnover to get a three-point play with :52.8 left to tie it at 18.
Both teams continued with pressure defense, accounting for a combined 13 first-half turnovers. But the Bulls had eight of those turnovers, accounting for six of the Sonics’ points as Seattle took a 43-42 lead into the half.
