Chicago Newspaper site article #2

[RAMANI_R@bentley.edu]

Bulls get ugly glimpse of faster future

                     By Terry Armour
                     TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
                     Web posted:Saturday, November 1, 1997

                     BOSTON--As Michael Jordan likes to say, ``Momma said
                     there'd be days like this.''

                     The question is: How many?

                     The Boston Celtics gave the Bulls an early indication
Friday night
                     of what they will have to go through this season if their
``Repeat
                     of the Three-peat'' is to come off. Younger, high-spirited
teams
                     are going to try to run the Bulls, just as the Celtics did
in their
                     92-85 victory at FleetCenter.

                     On Friday it was the Celtics. Saturday night at the United
Center
                     it could be the Philadelphia 76ers. On any given night, it
could be
                     the Washington Wizards or anybody else that has a bunch of
                     young, live bodies.

                     That happens to be every team except the Bulls, Houston
                     Rockets and Utah Jazz.

                     ``They're going to try to run the hell out of us,
basically,'' Dennis
                     Rodman said. ``We have to be smart enough to realize that
we
                     don't have the legs we did 10 years ago. We have to go out
                     there and take the game to our level, to our pace.''

                     It didn't work out that way in Boston. The Celtics
overcame a
                     20-point first-quarter deficit in ending an 11-game losing
streak
                     against the Bulls.

                     The Celts took their first lead of the game (49-47) on a
Walter
                     McCarty layup with seven minutes, 16 seconds left in the
third
                     quarter. By the time the period ended they had a 68-58
lead.
                     They just kept running and trapping, like a bunch of
Energizer
                     Bunnies.

                     The Bulls had better get used to it.

                     ``The perception around the NBA is that we're a little bit
old and
                     perhaps that indicates that we're a little bit slow and
therefore
                     teams can pressure us,'' Luc Longley said.

                     ``They'll try to beat us in the fourth quarter by trying
to wear us
                     down. First of all, we don't believe that. Second of all,
good ball
                     movement also can wear a team down as well. We're capable
of
                     wearing teams down that way.''

                     The Bulls did that in the first quarter, when they shot 70
percent
                     and opened a 32-12 lead. By halftime it had dwindled to
43-34.
                     The rest at the break didn't seem to help--they were
winded in
                     the second half.

                     ``We're a very professional team,'' Ron Harper said. ``We
know
                     there are some very young NBA teams who are going to try
to
                     make the ballgame up-tempo. We've got some guys who can
                     play a fast-paced game but we can't sustain it for a whole
game.
                     We have to be a team that's under control.''

                     Randy Brown, probably the Bulls' quickest guard, said the
team
                     will simply have to adapt.

                     ``We're not going to be feared around the league as we
were
                     before,'' he said. ``Teams aren't going to just lay down
for us.
                     We're going to have to come out and match a team's
intensity.
                     At the beginning of games, teams are going to come out
real
                     aggressive and we're going to have to match that
aggressiveness.
                     Once we get through that, then we'll be all right.''