Working More Magic, Jordan Disappears as Bulls Lose to Pistons

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. —  Yes, almost anybody might have expected the Detroit Pistons to be successful Wednesday night on their home court, to take a 3-2 advantage over the Chicago Bulls in their ferocious match to see who fights the Lakers for the National Basketball Assn. championship.

Yes, somebody might have even foreseen Vinnie (Microwave) Johnson coming off the bench to score 16 of his 22 points for Detroit in the fourth quarter, breaking open a close game.

However, could anybody have anticipated, before Detroit’s 94-85 victory over Chicago in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, that:

--Chicago’s Michael Jordan would take only eight shots in 46 minutes?

--Craig Hodges would lead Chicago in shots and points?

--Bill Laimbeer would be benched by Detroit the entire fourth quarter?

--Detroit’s Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre would be benched almost the entire fourth quarter?

--Detroit’s starting five would combine in the fourth quarter for three points?

--Brad Sellers would play 22 minutes for Chicago after not playing in the past three games--and take one less shot than Jordan?

No wonder it was suggested that the Bulls turned Jordan into a $2.5-million-a-year decoy.

“That’s a pretty crass thing to say,” Jordan’s coach, Doug Collins, snapped back. “That’s a pretty big shot to take at us.

“Michael scores 46 points, and people say he’s not sharing enough of the offense. Now he takes eight shots and you tell him he’s the highest-priced decoy in the game.

“Is that fair?”

Jordan sure didn’t think so.

He made a conscious effort, he said, to involve his teammates in the offense, what with the Pistons putting everybody but their trainer on him when he touched the ball.

“Why should I take the shots if they’re double-teaming me, triple-teaming me, sometimes even putting four guys on me?” Jordan asked. “Didn’t we still get good shots?”

Yes, Michael.

“Well, did we hit ‘em?”

No, Michael.

“That’s the whole story,” Jordan said. “We gotta hit ‘em.”

Held to 18 points--10 on free throws--Jordan was virtually no scoring factor in the game, although he did account for more than half (nine) of Chicago’s assists.

Detroit’s defense just keeps wearing Air Jordan and the Jordanaires down, bit by bit. The Bulls got only 80 points in Game 4. This time they got only 85, and were outshot by the Pistons by a ridiculously lopsided 80-59--the 59 shots an all-time playoff low by any NBA team.

Meantime, no team has scored 100 points against the Pistons in the 1989 playoffs, in a dozen games.

“Are they wearing us down? Yes,” Collins said, answering his own question. “Are we tired? Probably. Is Michael tired? Probably. That’s why I tried to use some new people. Detroit just keeps throwing fresh bodies at us. These guys leave Laimbeer, Isiah and Aguirre on the bench and don’t even miss them.”

If there is more than one reason Jordan’s tongue is hanging so far out these days, it might be because the Bulls battled five long nights against Cleveland and six against the Knicks, while the Pistons breezed through Boston and Milwaukee in eight straight.

Even so, Chicago gave a good account of itself Wednesday for a while, in front of a crowd of 21,454 at the Palace, where the Pistons have won 27 of their last 28.

The Bulls must win here Sunday to get a shot at the Lakers and their first NBA title, but first, there’s a little matter of Game 6 Friday night at Chicago Stadium.

They led, 31-21, early in the second quarter before running out of gas. Jordan advised his teammates on the bus ride to the arena that they would have to step up and be heard from, since Detroit obviously intended to throw the kitchen sink at him on defense.

Bill Cartwright answered the call, supplying 10 points and 10 rebounds by halftime.

The Pistons whittled away, with their top four reserves getting as much playing time or more than the starters--excluding Joe Dumars, whose principal job is guarding Jordan. Although they trailed, 45-41, at halftime, the Pistons opened the third quarter with a 12-2 run and never trailed again.

The minute one guy cooled off, someone else got hot. Aguirre and Thomas, for example, scored Detroit’s last 18 points of the first half--but sat out the final 10 minutes 50 seconds of the game, even though neither player was hurt or in foul trouble.

Vinnie Johnson refused to re-take his seat, firing in jumper after jumper. Someone asked him later how it felt to be on fire, and he said: “On fire? I wasn’t on fire. At least I don’t think I was on fire.”

John Salley begged to differ.

“Vinnie was so hot, I’m thinking of doing a video with just Vinnie and a bunch of fire in the background,” Salley said.

Said Jordan, “That’s why they call him the Microwave.”

Chicago was as cold as the city.

Only Hodges, the starting guard opposite Jordan who becomes a free agent when the season ends, shot Bulls-eyes, nailing five three-pointers on his way to 19 points. Just once all season had Hodges even co-led Chicago in scoring, Jordan outscoring his teammates in all but six regular-season games.

For long passages of time, it was easy to forget Jordan was even in Wednesday’s game. He seemed “almost in a sleepwalk,” Detroit TV commentator Dick Motta said, taking only four shots per half.

Was anything wrong?

No, Jordan said. “I just never felt I had the situation where I could take over the game and do what you all thought I was going to do.

“I feel good. I don’t feel tired. There’s nothing like that wrong with me. I’m going to say it again: I am not going to force anything. I can’t shoot with their whole team on me. If the other guys hit their shots, we win, plain and simple.”

Hodges understood.

“Everybody sees us as a one-man team, we know that, but whether he scores 100 points or 10 points, Michael needs some help. We’ve got to give it to him or we’re finished.”

Hodges gave it his best three-point shot, hitting two in a row to cut Detroit’s lead to 85-80 with four minutes left. Hodges hurt the Bulls with a turnover that led to a Detroit score, but bagged another three-pointer at 1:38, making it 89-83.

Too late. A lay-up by Dumars--the first points by a Piston starter in the fourth period--put the game beyond the Bulls’ means, particularly with Jordan scoring only one point over the final 12 minutes.

Dennis Rodman, as usual, had something to do with that, keeping a hand in Jordan’s face at all times, and grabbing every rebound there was to grab. Rodman got all 10 of Detroit’s rebounds in the fourth quarter, and had 14 for the night.

Aguirre scored 19 points, Thomas had 17 points and 12 assists.

NBA East Notes

For the fourth straight game, Bill Laimbeer had a triple single. He got seven points, three rebounds, one assist. Laimbeer scored had Detroit’s first five points, then only two the rest of the way. . . Horace Grant also is doing a vanishing act. After getting 20 rebounds in Game 2, the Chicago forward pulled down three in Game 3, and one Wednesday night. . . . The Pistons have won 73 of 94 games this season. . . . Including the regular season, they have gone 14 straight games holding opponents under 100 points. Average surrendered per game over that span: 89.5. . . . Brad Sellers, inactive for all but three minutes of this series, played 22 minutes at forward and did better than Grant, outscoring and outrebounding him. “Hard to believe, though, that Sellers took only one fewer shot than Michael Jordan,” Coach Doug Collins said. “I don’t know if that’s sad or funny.”