Believe it or not, the Bulls have made progress this season. Their 20-year-old big men, Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler, the future of the team since they were drafted out of high school before last season, have raised their scoring averages and shown flashes of brilliance. Chandler has amassed eight double doubles–double figures in scoring and, in his case, rebounds–and has actually led the NBA in offensive rebounds since the all-star break. Curry too has come on of late: in the first 14 games after the break he averaged 13 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. When they were teamed last week with 6-foot-9 forward Donyell Marshall, 6-8 swingman Jalen Rose, and 6-5 point guard Jamal Crawford, everyone in this big starting lineup scored in double figures and there were four double doubles–Crawford’s coming in points and assists–as the Bulls beat the Golden State Warriors 119-105. That win gave the Bulls 22 on the season, and though a team with 41 losses has nothing to brag about this was nevertheless the most victories the Bulls had earned in a season since Michael Jordan left five years ago.
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So I planned to head out to the UC last Saturday and judge the Bulls at their best. The Los Angeles Clippers, in town for the only time this season, featured former local prep stars Corey Maggette of Fenwick and Quentin Richardson of Whitney Young, and their best player is Elton Brand, whom the Bulls traded for Chandler when general manager Jerry Krause decided to press “restart” in the Bulls’ rebuilding program two years ago. Unfortunately, as with so much involving the Bulls, things didn’t work out quite as planned. Brand was put on the injured list a few days before the game with a stress fracture in his lower left leg and didn’t make the trip. Richardson was pulled from the starting lineup in favor of the taller Lamar Odom, as LA set up to confront the Bulls’ new array of starters. The Clippers, a talented team that saw its fortunes go south this season, costing coach Alvin Gentry his job, arrived in town with even fewer wins than the Bulls–they were 19-42 and fresh off a road loss the previous night. New coach Dennis Johnson, the baggy-eyed former Boston Celtics star, was still looking for his first victory. Curry came out and scored the Bulls’ first ten points, and the game looked like easy pickings.
Curry hasn’t developed the muscle mass of a Shaquille O’Neal, but he’s quick for a big man, with remarkably soft hands, and he made his veteran counterpart, Sean Rooks, look feeble. Curry consistently beat him to a spot under the hoop, where he typically took a pass, spun, and laid the ball in. When he passed out of the low post to Crawford for an open three-point shot, the Bulls led 13-8. But it seemed that for every play Curry made on offense he committed a gaffe on defense. He slipped inside for a tip-in to make it 25-18, but then gave up a hoop at the other end to Melvin Ely, a slighter but quicker center who’d come off the bench to relieve Rooks. Curry made a nice pass to Rose for a three but erased that by fouling Ely to set up a three-point play. He fouled again in the last two seconds of the quarter, sending Maggette–elegantly dressed for his homecoming in black shoes with sparkling Dorothy Gale ruby red trim–to the line and himself to the bench. The Bulls had played well, and Curry had 14 points, but Maggette had 13 to Rose’s 11, and the Bulls led only 30-28.
The Bulls had one rally left. Cartwright showed a sudden confidence in Williams by letting him play through crunch time, with Crawford on the bench. Williams responded with a pair of threes that cut the lead to 97-93 in the final minute, and he hounded Los Angeles point guard Andre Miller into a turnover at the other end. Yet Rose drove into traffic and gave the ball away, and the Clippers held on from there at the free-throw line. With the Bulls needing a pair of threes to tie in the final ten seconds, Rose drove for a layup to give him a game-high 30 points. A couple of final foul shots closed it out for the Clippers at 103-97. Homeboys Maggette and Richardson finished with 25 and 21, Curry with 26. It didn’t matter, of course, that the Bulls’ top two had outscored their top two.
