CUNNING OF THE BULLS

By Steve Wulf

No way da Bulls lose. They'll probably win their 70th regular season game this week, which no N.B.A. team has ever done. Only two of their nine defeats have come in a row, and they haven't lost to any team more than once. They'll have the home-court advantage throughout the postseason, and no home court is more advantageous than the United Center, where they have a record of 38-1. Chicago has the best rebounder in the world, the most versatile forward in the N.B.A. and the finest player who ever lived. No way this team loses any of the four play-off series it needs to win to reclaim its title from the Houston Rockets, who borrowed it for two seasons while Michael Jordan shagged fly balls. "The Bulls," says New Jersey Nets forward Jayson Williams, "are like Clint Eastwood in a western, Arnold Schwarzenegger in an action movie. You can shoot at them, you may even wound them. But guess who's gonna be standing there when the credits roll?" No way da Bulls lose.

Way. They are perfectly capable of an off night: in the month of March, Chicago lost one game by 32 points to the New York Knicks, who aren't exactly world beaters, and another game to the Toronto Raptors, one of the expansion teams that have diluted the talent in the N.B.A. Beyond the Big Three of Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman and the Spider of Split, a.k.a. Toni Kukoc, the Bulls have an odd assortment of projects and castoffs. Stan Albeck, a Nets assistant coach and former Bulls head coach, says, "Back in November, one of our broadcasters, Mike O'Koren, told me he thought the Bulls could win 70. I bow to no one in my admiration for Michael, having coached him, but I didn't think the Bulls were all that deep. Plus, I've coached Rodman. So I bet O'Koren the biggest steak dinner in New Jersey that the Bulls wouldn't win 70. Guess I'm buying."

Guess so. The visiting Bulls beat the Nets 113-100 last Thursday for their 67th win of the season, then returned home to play Philadelphia the next night and demolished the 76ers, 112-82, for No. 68. The victory over the Nets was particularly instructive, because while most of the 20,000 fans had come to see Jordan, Rodman and Pippen, they ended up seeing an awful lot of Randy Brown, James Edwards and Dickey Simpkins. At one point in the fourth quarter, with Jordan and Pippen on the bench, the Nets closed to within nine points. Coach Phil Jackson sent to the rescue...Jud Buechler. The funny thing was, it worked: Buechler went back-door for a basket, and the Bulls were again in control.

Jackson's New Age philosophy, a mixture of American Indian and Zen Buddhism, has kept the superstars and scrubs, the Croatian and the Australian, the young and the old, the sane and Rodman playing in harmony. But even the coach is hard put to explain just how this team will win more games than any N.B.A. team before it. "A number of times this year," he says, "I'd tell my coaches, 'Pinch me, I don't know if this is a dream or not.' It was like we were doing this with mirrors and smoke. But the reality has sunk in that this team deserves it all for the way they are playing. We've had some breaks this year, without a doubt, but we've had some hard times too." Indeed, the Bulls have weathered injuries to Pippen, Rodman and center Luc Longley, as well as Rodman's six-game suspension for head butting a referee. Since then Rodman has been on his best behavior--relatively speaking. Asked to assess Jackson as a coach and as a man, the tinted one replied, "Great coach. As a man, well, I've never slept with him."

What distinguishes the Bulls from other teams, present and past, is not so much talent as intelligence. As Magic Johnson says, "They got guys that have that look." They know that practice makes perfect; they know not to burn the candle at both ends; they know there is no I in team: they know--and believe in--all the cliches. They also know that 70 wins, which Rodman delights in calling "the ultimate orgasm," is actually no big deal. "It's just a record," says Jordan. "That's all. It won't mean anything if we don't win the second season."

Ever since he returned to basketball a year ago, Jordan has been intent on winning back the championship. Williams, who almost signed with the Bulls before re-upping--much to his regret--with the Nets, says, "After last season Michael said to me, 'Come play for the Bulls, pull down eight to 10 rebounds a night, and I'll get you two championship rings.' At the time I thought, 'Who's spiking his Yoo-Hoo?' How was I supposed to know? I go out to Chicago, take the psychological test and while I'm trying to decide, they sign Dennis Rodman. How bad did I do on that test?"

This season Jordan has averaged 30.8 points a game, which will give him his eighth N.B.A. scoring title. He scores differently nowadays though. "He's not quite as explosive as he was five years ago," says Bulls guard Steve Kerr, "but he's stronger and a better shooter. His fadeaway jump shot is now his signature move, not the spectacular drive to the basket." That's not to say Jordan is getting old at 33. He can still put on a show, especially if he wants to teach the younger players in the league a lesson. Back on Jan. 13, he lit up the 76ers for 48 points just to leave an impression on rookie and fellow North Carolina alum Jerry Stackhouse. In fact, there are those who say the best there ever was is even better this time around. "The game's easy for him now," says Pippen. "He's a much smarter player; he's using his head a lot more." According to Pippen, Jordan's leadership role has also expanded, from merely setting an example to making sure his teammates follow his example. "Let's face it," says the Nets' Williams. "Michael's second to God."

Second to the devil might be Rodman, whose billboarded visage in Chicago recently had to be moved before it caused any more accidents. The Worm's affectations are not restricted to the hue of his locks or the Cinerama on his body. There are the 17 pierced areas above his neck and the one below his waist, for instance. In a better world, Rodman would be admired for his rebounding and passing skills, which are extraordinary, or for his work ethic--which is considerable when he chooses to work. But those aren't the reasons kids come to arenas all across the land in magenta-colored hair. The Bulls were smart enough to realize what Rodman the player could do for them, and that Jordan was a strong enough influence to keep him in line. But there are those who think Rodman's sneakers will drop on the Bulls, just as they did--quite literally--on the San Antonio Spurs last year, when he unlaced his shoes and sat out the rest of a play-off game.

Second to Michael on the Bulls is Pippen. He is also first in assists, second in scoring and third in rebounds. After a recent practice at the Bulls' Berto Center, Jordan nudged Pippen and said, "I want to be like Scottie." Mike wasn't just making a play on one of his own commercials. The improved relationship between the Buzz Lightyear and the Woody of the Bulls is another reason the team seems headed for infinity and beyond. While Jordan was gone, Pippen became the team leader, and now they willingly play good captain/bad captain. "Scottie will do a lot of patting on the back," says Jackson. "Michael, well, he's not afraid to rebuke and give a guy a hard look if he screwed up." Pippen and Jordan also go hard after one another in practice, and that, says Jackson, "brings the level of the team up."

The Bulls' supporting cast has a decidedly international flavor: Croatian Kukoc provides instant offense off the bench, Australian Longley and Canadian Bill Wennington share the pivot, and Kerr, born in Beirut, can spell either Ron Harper or Jordan and throw in a three. And Jackson keeps them all happy. "Phil kind of choreographs the whole thing," says Kerr. "He knows how to blend personalities. A lot of teams would not be able to accept three guys getting all the attention, but we have no problem with that. Besides, we certainly get a lot more recognition than we would on any other team. Every single guy is happy to be here." No two Bulls are less alike than the straight-arrow Kerr and the bizarro Rodman, but the other night in New Jersey, they both went after a loose ball and, after falling into the seats together, came up hugging each other and laughing. It was a nice metaphor for a team that's truly together.

Are the Bulls invincible? "If they are beat," says Albeck, "it'll be by a club with a dominant center and a red-hot shooter--maybe the Magic with Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, or the Pacers with Rik Smits and Reggie Miller. The Bulls also have some weak free-throw shooting--Rodman, Pippen, Harper--and that's what cost the Magic last year. But we're talking a loss or two. Michael is not going to let them lose a whole series."

The last Chicago team to be this dominant also had a Big Three. The 1906 Cubs won an amazing 116 games to 36 losses and inspired Franklin P. Adams to write his famous verse: "Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble/Making a Giant hit into a double/ Words that are weighty with nothing but trouble/Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Pippen to Rodman to Air has a nice sort of ring to it, but before anyone starts writing poems about dese Bulls, he or she might want to consider this: the Cubs' gonfalon bubble in 1906 was burst by the White Sox.

--With reporting by Julie Grace/Chicago

With reporting by Julie Grace/Chicago