One more view: The plague of injuries that has descended on the Bulls? Everyone knows it has caused coach Phil Jackson to adjust. And it has made their last month of the regular season more difficult.
And it has pushed unneeded minutes onto guys such as Pippen and Michael Jordan, who could use some rest. And it has force-fed minutes into guys such as Jason Caffey and Brian Williams, who under other circumstances would be used in more limited roles.
Everyone knows all this has occurred after the losses to injuries of Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc and Bill Wennington. And now here comes Pippen with one more fallout of those losses.
“I think we have a pretty good feel for all the teams throughout the league,” he says. “But I think this is a tough situation for us now because we’re not at full strength playing anybody, and we’re not playing to the level of intensity we need to play with.
“So other teams are coming in and gaining confidence from being able to compete with us, or beat us. That’s not really what you want going into the playoffs. You want all the edges you can get in case you face those teams (in the playoffs).”
“I think our record over the last couple of years shows that we’re not a team that’s going to fall by the wayside. I think we feel very good about ourselves because we know we can beat any team on any given night, and we can make the adjustments.”
Big shoulders: Jordan, in the wake of all those injuries, suggested he and Pippen must do a little more.
“That’s a fair statement,” Pippen agrees. “But it’s kind of tough this late in the season because you’re trying to gear yourself up to kind of have a burst when the playoffs start. To have to continue pushing for 82 games puts a lot of stress and strain on your body.”
