Juwan Howard, with Jason Caffey guarding him, cut to the far corner on the Bullets’ first possession Friday night at the United Center and he remained there as Rod Strickland cut through the heart of the Bulls’ defense to feed Gheorghe Muresan for an easy two-footer.
On the next possession, Howard repeated this routine and he would do little more than the same on the three that followed.
“It’s a nice homecoming for me personally. It’s special because my family, my friends are here,” he said.
Of course, he’s a Chicago kid, a former Bulls fan, a grad of Chicago Vocational. Before this affair he had stuffed envelopes with tickets for that family and those friends.
“I spent a lot of money. But money’s nothing compared to the love they expend on me,” he said.
“But more importantly this is my job, and they know I’m here to do a job. I didn’t come to see all my family and stuff like that. I couldn’t get caught up with who was in the stands. Was mom there? Has she made it to the game yet? I had to come focused, mentally tough, and ready to go.”
But with just under 2 1/2 minutes gone and the ball finally in his hands, Howard looked anything but focused, anything but mentally tough. He was isolated on Caffey just to the left of the foul line. But as he went to work on the Bulls forward, he resembled an anxious kid trying to make a big impression.
He backed in on Caffey as he began his dribble and then, finding no passage there, he made his way toward the left baseline. Now the shot clock was a concern. It had wound down dangerously low and with no options left to him, Howard rose to offer up an ugly jumper that clanged noisily off the rim.
“I wouldn’t say it’s so much I have to settle him down (before a game in Chicago),” his friend and teammate Chris Webber said. “I just have to remind him it’s his city and he doesn’t have anything to prove.”
“I didn’t find myself (wound up) at all,” said Howard. “I have matured. I’m a maturing basketball player learning night in and night out. Games like this, just because I’m home, I don’t find myself so excited I don’t play within our system. I let the game come to me.”
The game finally would come to him Friday night when Webber went down with fouls (six) and in flames (eight points). Here, Howard indeed would prove something about himself. He would prove his resiliency by rebounding from his truly shaky start (two points in the first quarter, five in the first half) to end this night of homecoming with a team-high 21.
“It’s a concern we have,” Bullets coach Bernie Bickerstaff said of the homecoming’s effects on Howard. “But I thought he settled down.”
“He was their best player tonight,” said Phil Jackson.
He would have some embarrassing moments such as Scottie Pippen blocking one of his jumpers in the open court. But he also would have some special moments. He twice drove for baskets while drawing fouls on Michael Jordan, his childhood hero. Once he joined the flow, and found his focus, he more often than not was his typical, unspectacular, hard-working self.
He was guarded at various times by Caffey, Pippen and Dennis Rodman, and resolutely took on each of them in turn. He guarded at various times Caffey, Pippen and Rodman, and managed to hold them to a modest 24 points.
“When I came to the arena,” he said, “I was a little nervous. It was my first playoff game. I never experienced anything like this, and you have to keep in mind I’m human. We all have a little jitters now and then.
“But as the game went on, I felt more comfortable. Still. I didn’t play my best game. We as a team didn’t play our best game. We’re going to come out Sunday with a better ballgame.
“We’re going to bring it to them.”
