February 20, 2016: Slow Starters

So the 1990-1991 NBA season started off with a loss for our Bulls…and another one…and another one. 0-3 to start the season?!?  Where’s the fire Phil talk?

It certainly was disappointing. This was supposed to be our year. This was the year we would finally get home court advantage against the Pistons and beat THEM in 7 games. Get homecourt advantage, get past the Pistons, and win the franchise’s first title.  Now 3 games later, we’ve yet to win a game?  2 of those losses coming at home??  We’d only lose 4 more at home the entire year.

The Bulls would then rattle off 3 straight wins before embarking on their annual West Coast circus trip.  They would win the first game against Utah to make it 4 in a row, but would only go 4-3 on the trip, before returning to win the last 2 games in November at the Stadium.  A 9-6 November was anything but championship talk.  It’s that Utah game that I seem to recall…

It was the start of the West Coast swing in Utah vs the Jazz.  I had to look it up on YouTube to double check my memory, and yeah, I was right.  Damn I have a good memory when it comes to my teams; don’t ask me about anything else though.  The game stuck in my mind as a great battle with a great ending; one that had me jumping around in the living room.  It was the Jazz of course, the team we would meet years later in back to back Finals.  They had Stockton and Malone.  They had Jeff Malone, Thurl Bailey, and Mark Eaton to round out their starting 5.  Down the stretch in that game it was starters against starters.  As I validated my memory, I watched the last 4 minutes of the game.

It certainly brings back memories to listen to Jim Durham, and of course, Johnny Red Kerr.  Talk about an all time Bull… he was the man.  I love Stacey King as color commentator, but I’m not sure anybody can rank above Johnny Red.  It was good to hear their voices again.  The Bulls looked so young… except Cartwright… did he ever look young?  Haha..  They flashed a stat that Pippen was 2 for 14 from the field in this one; yeah, it was that kind of battle.  There was only 1 Bulls starter in double digits… go ahead, take a guess.  MJ had 27 points and the Mailman had 28 as the game sat tied with under a minute. 

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There was 3 seconds when he got the ball in the post; it wasn’t even good position.  It was way out from the basket.  He took a few dribbles, further away from the basket as the double team came, turned left, and fired…. game time! 

Something that always sticks with me from those glory years was the ace in the hole mentality.  That confidence grew over the years of course, but it felt so good, to know, that if a game was close, there was nobody you’d rather have taking that shot, then our guy.  He was the ultimate clutch player.  I’m sure we’ll talk about many more of these examples as we make our way through this year, but let this be the first. 

I love when people get compared to MJ if you don’t already know.  And speaking of one of those guys, LBJ, and speaking of Utah, I remember a game the Heat had vs the Jazz in Utah a couple years ago, with the game on the line.  LeBum had the ball… a little better position than MJ… with the game in his hands… a pretty open look… not a double team rushing at him like MJ… and he passed the ball… to Udonis Haslem.  Just one of the many examples of why there is no comparision, especially from that punk.

MJ was there every time we needed him.  And although the cast around him became better and better, there were still these games, when he had 29 points, and only one other guy had 10.  He would continue to lead this team through the regular season, with an eye on the ultimate goal.  A 9-6 November record?  Yeah, those Bulls were slow starters for sure.  It’s about to get better.