THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996 TAG: 9602260133
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Forty-nine and counting.
People still are counting Chicago Bulls' victories, aren't they?
In a result that will please numbers crunchers, the Bulls on Sunday pasted the second-best team in the NBA's Eastern Division to move to within 21 of 70 victories.
By 20 points, Chicago defeated the Orlando Magic, who are often, and erroneously, characterized as the Bulls' toughest competition.
Maybe come the playoffs, they will be.
But the ease with which the Bulls dispatched the Magic is another reminder that Chicago's only competition over the next 27 games is the 1971-72 Lakers, holders of an NBA-record 69 victories.
No more tedious than the season itself, the numbers game between the Bulls and history goes on.
The Bulls coasted past Orlando with Scotie Pippen and Michael Jordan suffering sub-par shooting performances. Even for the winners, this was not an artistic masterpiece.
The grind of the long season gets to every team, even the Bulls. It gets to all but the most die-hard fans, one presumes. But Michael and the Jordanaires dare you not to pay attention, even on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
It's not the record, now 49-6, that grabs you the tightest, though. Anybody who obsesses on the numbers doesn't have the ability to appreciate the Bulls for what they are: SportWorld's most entertaining attraction.
The Bulls' record chase may be the big thing now, but this team's legacy depends on its winning the title in June.
The rest is all arithmetic. And debating.
The Bulls' success has been devalued in some circles because of their watered-down competition. But to hear this argument, you'd think the 1971-72 Lakers met nothing but juggernauts. Not so.
Expansion diluted talent in the league then, as it has now. Three teams were in their second year of existence. One of them, the Cleveland Cavaliers, was worse than anything the NBA offers up today in Vancouver or Toronto.
Today, at least, the NBA gets all the best talent. People who remember the Virginia Squires know very well that during the 1971-72 season some of the world's greatest athletes played in the ABA.
Those Lakers were not made to go up against Julius Erving, George Gervin, Rick Barry, Moses Malone, David Thompson or Artis Gilmore.
With the absence of several Hall of Famers, how could the NBA of 26 years ago have been as tough and deep as people say?
Speaking of diluted talent, the weekend's results suggest that, in late February, the college season, like the NBA, can grow stale, too.
Saturday and Sunday, some superior teams appeared weary and distracted. UMass lost, seemingly without great regret. North Carolina and Wake Forest fell, too. Were they mailing it in?
In the CAA, Old Dominion stumbled over a footwipe, and first-place VCU just got past last-place Richmond. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech barely broke the 40-point mark in a loss at Temple.
So-called meaningful games are hard to come by this time of year, for player and spectator alike. Which is why the Bulls, with their diverting style and lofty standards, provide a valuable service.
For the hoop jaded, the Bulls sometimes seem like the only TV basketball show worth the time. More than 70 victories, this is what counts most of all. ILLUSTRATION: Color AP photo
Dennis Rodman of the Chicago Bulls makes life, not to mention
scoring, difficult for Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal.
by CNB