NBA FINALS : LAKERS vs. CHICAGO BULLS : Bulls Strive to Resolve a Question of Balance : Game 1: Jordan scored 36 points, but his lion’s share of shots went against team’s approach on offense.

CHICAGO —  The Bulls were supposed to be beyond being blinded by the brilliance of Michael Jordan.

Jordan was supposed to have learned to trust his teammates.

But Sunday’s Game 1 loss to the Lakers was hardly an example of the new maturity.

Jordan’s 36 points and 12 assists accounted for 66% of the Bulls’ scoring.

In the first quarter, his field goals and assists accounted for 24 of 30 points.

He and Scottie Pippen took 43 of their team’s 80 shots.

No other Bull got more than eight shots or six points.

With distribution like that, the Lakers could be celebrating by this time next week. The Bulls run a motion offense that is not well served if one man dominates with the ball, although Coach Phil Jackson pointedly chose not to address the subject Monday.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” he said. “I don’t want to raise that issue.”

Jackson has raised the issue in less delicate times, as have others. A Chicago Tribune headline before the playoffs posed the question:

“Jordan: Blessing or Curse . . . “

Said Jimmy Lynam, coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, reading it in amazement: “I vote ‘Blessing.’ ”

Jackson kicked off this debate in training camp, installing a balanced offense, noting that teams with scoring leaders usually don’t win NBA titles. There have been only three.

Replied Jordan, the four-time defending scoring champion: “He’s the coach and I’ll follow his scheme, but I don’t plan to change my style of ball because I’ve been successful with that. I’m sure everything will be fine as long as we win, but if we start losing, I’m going to start shooting again.”

Jordan played fewer minutes and took fewer shots than he had in five seasons, but still won his fifth scoring title. The Bulls went 61-21 and everyone was happy--until Sunday.

Jordan appeared at a news conference after the game, then departed for the studios of WBBM-TV, the local CBS outlet, which employs him as a commentator.

There he noted he had been nervous during the game but, “I was able to get rid of my nervousness. Maybe some of the guys held onto theirs.”

He also said, “I didn’t think Scottie Pippen played the game he wanted to play. Bill Cartwright didn’t play the game he wanted to play.”

None of the Bulls criticized Jordan Monday, but there were polite calls for balance.

“We didn’t get a lot of opportunities,” guard John Paxson said. “I’m sure we’ll try Wednesday to establish a post game with Bill and Horace (Grant). We have to do that. They only took eight shots each. We need for them to get more than that.”

Grant, who has complained several times about being left out of the offense, was calm.

Where were his shots?

“I think I left them at home,” he said, laughing.

Was the problem the inevitable tendency to watch Jordan?

“When I first got here, I did that a little,” Grant said. “Watch him, sit back--ooh, ahh. But the team has matured so much this year. In the past, I did talk about my shots. But once I realized what my role was. . . . “

When was that?

“The beginning of the year,” Grant said.

A moment later, someone mentioned that the TV analysts were saying Grant needed more shots.

“Tell Phil that,” Grant said, laughing.

It is Jordan’s burden to have had a young team grow up around him, unlike Magic Johnson, who joined a team with great players and was joined by more.

“Yeah, I fantasized about that (being in Johnson’s position),” Jordan said Monday.

Does he think he would have won five championships, as Johnson did? “It’s very possible,” Jordan said. “I could have had five. I could have had none. I could have had 10. Who knows?”

No one will ever know that, but within two weeks everyone will have an opinion.