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Chicago Tribune: Bulls come up big too

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After every game, I am always interested in what the opponents' saying. Viewing the problem from a different perspective can be uncomfortable, but pleasure follows pain.

bulls 100, rockets 98

Bulls come up big too

By K.C. Johnson

Tribune staff reporter

January 26, 2003, 9:39 PM CST


Things were different Sunday at the United Center for reasons that had little to do with the noon starting time.

The Bulls hired a Chinese interpreter to help with ticket requests at the box office. The onslaught of media requests rivaled the number for Michael Jordan's appearance.

And a raucous sellout crowd of 22,052 cheered Houston's Yao Ming almost as eagerly as it had Jordan, giving the matinee a playoff atmosphere.

The Bulls, with five straight road games, don't play again at home until Feb. 11.

Perhaps by then they will be selling out games on their own merit rather than relying on the drawing power of Jordan and Yao.

A thrilling 100-98 victory over Houston, the Bulls' fifth straight win at home, is another case for that scenario to begin.

The Bulls improved to 15-7 at the United Center on Marcus Fizer's 10-foot jumper with 4/10ths of a second left. Fizer muscled up the shot after a broken play that Houston guard Steve Francis called "a fluke" and Jalen Rose called "beautiful."

No matter the description, Fizer's shot gave the Bulls their 17th victory, something they didn't achieve last season until March 16 and didn't top in either of the previous two seasons.

"We didn't play our best game," coach Bill Cartwright said, "but we were able to hang in and win."

Rose led the Bulls with 29 points and contributed seven rebounds and five assists. Donyell Marshall added 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Fizer scored 12 points.

Yao, greeted with several signs in the 300 level, finished with 14 points and eight rebounds in 32 minutes. He hit all three of his fourth-quarter shots to help Houston rally.

"He's a big human being," said Tyson Chandler, who guarded the 7-foot-5-inch center early. "Once he gets position, there's not much you can do about it."

Houston trailed 98-93 when Francis hit two free throws with 53.1 seconds left. Following a Rose miss, Kelvin Cato grabbed back-to-back offensive rebounds off missed three-pointers, and the ball eventually got to Cuttino Mobley.

The Rockets guard drove the lane, scored and drew Marshall's sixth foul, tacking on the free throw to tie the game 98-98 with 12.6 seconds left.

After a timeout, Rose lost the ball while driving on James Posey. Fizer came away from the ensuing scrum with the ball and quickly tossed up the winner.

"Jalen promised coach that we were going to get a shot up because we didn't [at the buzzer] in Orlando," Fizer said. "I knew if there was any way I could get to the ball, I was going to get the shot up."

Rose then tipped away a lob intended for Cato at the buzzer on Houston's inbounds play.

After closing the first half on the short end of an 18-5 run that included four turnovers, the Bulls opened the second with a 14-0 run. Because of that, because of 95 percent free-throw shooting and thanks to seven turnovers by Francis, who led Houston with 26 points, they hung on.

"This is big time," Rose said. "It establishes a pattern of success. And that's not something many players here are used to."
Copyright ?2003, The Chicago Tribune

 

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Yao Ming was as entertaining and impressive as advertised Sunday at the United Center. It was hard to take your eyes off him. At times he could be unstoppable, and you knew there was a chance you'd see something in a basketball game you'd never seen before.

"I was thinking of throwing one off the backboard and going up and then turning around and trying to dunk it backward," Steve Francis said. "But my coach would have been messed up with that."

Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich was messed up with some of what Francis did Sunday in the Bulls' thrilling 100-98 victory, particularly when Yao played the entire third quarter and got one shot as the Bulls outscored the Rockets by 12. "We didn't get the ball inside and the Bulls took over," Francis acknowledged.

Francis, the exciting point guard who will start his second consecutive All-Star Game next month, can take over a game like few players in the NBA. But it was Yao, the 7-foot-5-inch sensation from China, whom everyone came to see Sunday.

Though Yao has tired some in recent weeks, he played an efficiently impressive game with 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting and eight rebounds in 32 minutes. Had the Rockets gone inside with the ball more, it might not have been close enough at the end for the Bulls to pull out the win, especially with the Bulls relying on Donyell Marshall and Corie Blount to defend Yao in the fourth quarter.

"If they play like this at home tomorrow, we beat them by 30," the ever-defiant Francis said.

Of course, Francis is a bit obstinate, which accounts for some for his mistakes. But the Bulls' biggest mistake as they look back on their rebuilding may be passing on Francis when they had the No. 1 draft pick in 1999.

Francis had lobbied hard to be the No. 1 pick and said he wanted to come to Chicago. But the thinking at the time was it was easier to get a good guard than a good big man, and given Francis' checkered academic career, the Bulls went for the safe pick in the more stable Elton Brand. Two years later they traded Brand for the rights to high schooler Tyson Chandler. And now their current point-guard imbroglio could be damaging.

"It's kind of over for me with Chicago," Francis said. "If they traded Elton Brand, maybe there wasn't a place for me here either. They traded a guy who was more consistent than any of the four frontcourt guys they have now. They might have traded me to Vancouver again. You never know what they have up their sleeve here."

Having Francis would have given the Bulls a bit of nightly magic. He's 10th in the league in scoring at 23 points a game, and though he clearly isn't a pass-first point guard, he's also 14th in assists at six a game while ranking among the leaders in three-point shooting and steals.

"He's not the classic point guard," Tomjanovich conceded. "But look at the guys out there—Stephon Marbury, Gary Payton. Isiah Thomas was a scorer too. There's only a few of those classic point guards."

And they don't do the things Francis does, such as his stunning sequence before halftime when he rallied Houston to an eight-point lead with a three-pointer, a layup, a jumper, a steal and three rebounds in about 90 seconds.

"He's our energy," Tomjanovich said. "He's the guy proving to be the leader for us."

Much of it is with his daring play. Francis dives for loose balls and flies into the fourth row in almost every game. He can be loose with the ball as well; he committed seven turnovers Sunday. But he also had 26 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. And protection for Yao.

Francis knows his team's future and this season's playoff hopes are connected to Yao's development. So he looks after the 22-year-old from China, counseling him on how to deal with the pressures of the job and the media, even suggesting Yao should have avoided Sunday's pregame media responsibilities to prepare for the game.

"When people constantly say you hit a wall, that's when you start thinking about it," Francis said. "I don't believe in that. Everybody says, 'Just one interview,' and that snowballs. He's not used to it. If it was me, I'd take the fine. There's a lot of anticipation in seeing what type of player he'll be. He's a good player."

Yao was good again Sunday, though hardly dominant. He showed fight, toughness and a gentle touch. He needed to touch the ball more, though, and when he does, he and Francis may be an unbeatable combination.
Copyright © 2003, The Chicago Tribune