For the first time in more than a month, Luc Longley played.
The Bulls’ center, whose knee injury kept him out of 22 of the team’s last 24 regular-season games and the first-round playoff series with New Jersey, came off the bench Sunday against Charlotte at the United Center.
Longley played 14 minutes. He didn’t score a point and had just three rebounds, but it was more important that he played without favoring his left knee, which had a deep bone bruise.
“I think he played well,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson said after his team took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. “He gave us the body we needed in the middle, and I think it helped Scottie (Pippen) on (Charlotte’s Glen) Rice. He’s still feeling himself out and trying to get his timing down, but his knee is fine.”
Jackson had toyed with the idea of starting Longley, but didn’t use him until the final 47.5 seconds of the first quarter. His time on the floor fell just a shade short of the 15 to 20 minutes he expected, and he wore a bandage over his right eye, courtesy of an errant Charlotte elbow.
“It’s hard to expect to come back and set the world on fire,” Longley said. “I thought I did a solid job defensively, but I really didn’t get a lot of looks at the basket. By the next game (I’ll get more looks), and hopefully, by the end of this series, I’ll be right in the groove.”
After helping hold Charlotte’s Vlade Divac to 12 points, Longley expects his playing time to increase in Game 2 Wednesday at the United Center.
“The 14 minutes was just what I needed,” he said. “There were a couple of short runs early and a long one at the end. Phil really handled that well. My intention was to get out and play (defense), run the floor and get a feel for the game.”
Practice makes . . . ? The Bulls practiced at the United Center Saturday, but it didn’t seem to help their shooting. They shot just 29 percent (6 of 21) in the first quarter in falling behind by 15 points and just 36 percent in the first half.
Though the Bulls used a 16-0 second-quarter run to get back into the game, they shot just 41.4 percent for the game.
Mr. Offense: If Dennis Rodman can pull himself away from his push-and-shove match with Charlotte’s Anthony Mason long enough, Jackson wants him to think offense during the series.
Rodman’s 11 points, along with 17 rebounds, came in handy in the Bulls’ series-clinching victory over New Jersey in the first round. But he averaged just 4.7 points in the series and passed up several shots.
“I’m looking to score,” Rodman said. “I’m looking to get some easy baskets.” He outscored Mason 7-6 in Game 1 while putting up slightly more than half as many shots as he took in Game 3 of the Nets series.
“I shot 13 times–I couldn’t believe that,” he said. “If I just keep shooting and shooting, eventually the shots will fall.”
Said Jackson: “We’d like Dennis to get some points for us, but it’s got to come within the offense,” he said.
The older the better: The Bulls were the only team to sweep their first-round series. In each of their previous five title runs, the Bulls also swept their first-round series.
This isn’t accidental. Jackson said his players realize the importance of playing as few games as possible.
“It’s experience and knowledge and taking advantage of the situation,” he said. “I think it was important for us to have swept. We know that it’s vitally important for a team our age to get through a series as quickly as possible. The ultimate thing is, the more you play, the more attrition you have to injuries. In a playoff situation, you want as few games as possible.”
The injury bug still managed to bite the Bulls. Besides Longley’s cut, Rodman was hit in a tricep by an errant Mason elbow and Ron Harper suffered a cut under his left thumbnail and played just 20 minutes, failing to score.
Rest period: The Bulls ended up having three days off before Sunday’s game. Charlotte, which flew home after the game to practice and will return to Chicago on Tuesday, had just one day off after wrapping up its first-round series with Atlanta in four games Friday night.
The Hornets appeared more energetic than the Bulls in the first quarter, but fatigue might have been a factor as they struggled for the rest of the game.
A five-game Atlanta-Charlotte series would have given the Bulls more rest, but as sluggish as they were at the start, Steve Kerr figured three days off was just about right.
“We’ve had plenty of rest,” he said. “I don’t like waiting around during the playoffs, I’d rather just get right after it.”
