Anthony Mason says he’s a wimp.
OK, he didn’t put it quite that way.
And nobody else had better, or else.
Because this is a 6-foot-8-inch, 250-pound guy with chiseled features and a haircut that would make an entire cellblock wince.
The problem for the Charlotte Hornets, who lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Bulls 83-70 Sunday, is that it was Mason who winced.
He got the ball, then gave it away when the Bulls challenged him.
The Hornets are not about to win many games that way.
“We didn’t respond with force and energy,” Mason said, talking in a low growl that makes a listener feel as though he’s hearing a bear speak. “We’ve got to change that (in) the second game. We’ve got to come out more aggressive. They kept saying to let the game come to me. But that doesn’t work.
“(Coach Dave) Cowens doesn’t know my game,” Mason said, repeating his seasonlong mantra that nobody knows anything but him. “It’s always an excuse around here. Cowens ought to know his players better. I’ve got to do what I can, get more looks inside and get the job done. I have to be more aggressive.”
But Mason wasn’t aggressive. He may have been looking for someone to blame, but the fact that the Hornets seemed to forget about Mason, who averaged 19 points against Atlanta, was how Sunday’s game turned around for the Bulls.
The Hornets can stand outside and shoot. If the shots are going down, the Hornets can be trouble.
But it’s the Bulls, the road, the second time ever for the Hornets franchise in the second round of the playoffs. And smart guy that Bulls coach Phil Jackson is, he figures that a team is less likely to score from 20 feet than 2 feet.
“We had to be focused on him after his 29-point game (in Friday’s clincher against Atlanta),” Jackson said.
So the Bulls dropped a double-team down on Mason every time he tried to make a move with the ball in the post.
It was the Bulls’ secret to success: Take away the opponent’s most dangerous option.
It’s what the Bulls have done throughout their championship run. It seems simple. Make someone other than their best player beat you. And the Bulls can do it because they have Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman on defense.
So they took turns double-teaming Mason and making him give up the ball.
Mason played 38 minutes, but shot just five times, scoring six points and getting seven rebounds in sort of an act of surrender.
“Mase sometimes has problems against quick guys like Dennis, where he cannot use his spin move and get the open shot,” Cowens said. “We wanted the game to come to him. We did hurt them early going inside and kicking it out.”
That’s when the Hornets opened a 15-point lead and let the Bulls, instead of the game, come to them.
“We got up by 15, and you’ve got to make it 20,” Mason said. “We started taking the first open shot. They’re a good team, but they’re just as vulnerable as anyone else. You have to impose your will and play hard basketball. If you settle for the first open shot, you’re going to struggle.
“It’s misleading sometimes. I guess we’re a better ballclub when we come from behind. Then we play with energy and force to the end. Sometimes you get a big lead, you idle your engines.”
So with Mason idle, Glen Rice can get his 25 points.
That still doesn’t get the Hornets more than 70.
“We just missed shots,” Bobby Phills insisted. “They weren’t doing anything differently. We just missed shots.”
Yes, the Hornets did, 43 to be exact, in shooting 36 percent. They’re a better shooting team than that.
But this is the big time, national television, five-time champions. Are you ready for prime time? The Hornets may not be.
They are a 50-plus win team for the second straight season under Cowens. But they’re also a team that features 60 percent of their starting lineup with CBA experience: Mason, Phills and David Wesley.
Sure, they’re bona fida NBA players now. And their success is more inspiration than circumstance.
“I never get frustrated,” Mason said. “I’ve overcome so many things in my life.”
Now the question may be whether they can overcome themselves, their inexperience, their indecision, their lack of playoff maturity.
“A lot had to do with (the Bulls) figuring out where we wanted to get the ball,” former Bull B.J. Armstrong said. “At the same time, we were not as crisp as we were at the beginning of the game. It’s an experience, to learn to play in a hostile environment, to take the crowd out, extend a charge, know when to foul, the little things about going through the process.”
But the Hornets are going to have to learn quickly.
Because summer vacations looms.
