THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Bulls Have Had Most of the Answers

With one day left in the season unless Phil Jackson’s “unlikely event” occurs and the Trail Blazers upset the Bulls, a few questions occur:

If David Stern has cornered the market on turkeys, how are we going to hold Thanksgiving?

This is the first finals to go six games since 1988, and it’s the most one-sided 3-2 series ever. The Trail Blazers have led for 47 of the 245 minutes--and eight of the 144 in the three games in Portland. The joke going around now is the Bulls should be leading, 5-0.

What’s with the Trail Blazers, anyway?

They’re shaky in a half-court game, and the Bulls have a unique advantage. Michael Jordan is such a great defender, they don’t have to double-team Clyde Drexler, so Terry Porter no longer gets all those open jumpers. The Bulls did the same thing a year ago, leaving Magic Johnson to Jordan, telling John Paxson to follow Byron Scott everywhere. The Trail Blazers’ best play in half-court is posting up Drexler, but they have completely abandoned it. Coach Rick Adelman says they tried it, but Jordan is so good at keeping the ball out of the post, it never worked. Meanwhile, Porter’s average in the last three series reads 26-26-15.

How good is Jordan?

Too good for words.

When this guy raises his game, he leaves the known universe.

Check out his performances in the big games:

Game 7 vs. New York: 29 points in the first half.

Game 6 vs. Cleveland: 16 points in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Game 1 vs. Portland: 35 points in the first half.

Game 5 vs. Portland: 27 points in the first half.

While shooting 51%, he has held Drexler to 42%.

If the Bulls are so good, why are they still playing?

Scottie Pippen is still fragile. If he gets over the hump, we are looking at the first three-peater since the Celtics finished a run of eight in a row in 1966.

Can the Bulls get better?

Easily. Scott Williams has made a big move, which is fortunate for them, since it gives them one consistent player off their bench. If they could find a sixth man who can average 15 points, they would be that much tougher. That could be Rod Higgins, a Warrior free agent, former Bull and friend of Jordan’s. Suppose they got Derek Harper to play the point? He is almost as good a shooter as Paxson, and he is a lot better at everything else, including Bull-style hound-’em defense. Luckily for the rest of the league, Chicago-Dallas trade talks have stalled since the Mavericks aren’t keen on Stacey King.

Who is on the horizon to challenge the Bulls?

No one, as presently constituted. If the Bulls win today, they will have won two titles with a 30-9 playoff record (15-2 last season, 15-7 this time). The Trail Blazers are best in the West, but they need to redress their balance between athleticism and skill (goodby Jerome Kersey?). The Knicks have momentum and $4 million under the salary cap to play with, but they need to upgrade three positions and their bench.

If the Bulls nod off today, or trip over their arrogance, forget you read this.

MAGIC: VIEW FROM THE OWNER’S BOX

Johnson will decide whether to return as a player after the Olympics . . . but seems to be moving away from a comeback.

At the All-Star game, asked if he would return if the Olympics went well, he said: “Probably.”

Last week he said buying a team is his No. 1 priority and “everything else will have to take a back seat.

“My whole thing is this,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to own a team. The Lakers have gone onward without me, and that’s good because they have to draft and do their thing without me.”

Johnson says he has three options: 1) forming a group with Bruce McNall; 2) forming a group with another set of partners he doesn’t want to identify but who might include his Hollywood connections, super-agent Mike Ovitz and Capitol Records President Joe Smith; and 3) buying into the Sacramento Kings.

To date he has looked into several teams:

Denver--”They’ve got a tough situation there. They’re locked into a lease for a long time. The team is young and coming, but it’s still a football town. It seems like people are more enthusiastic about the football team and the baseball team they’re going to get than about their basketball team.”

Indiana--”Small population base.”

Houston--”That was one of the first teams we checked. He (owner Charlie Thomas) wants a lot of money, but we’re still looking at it.”

Does Johnson assume Hakeem Olajuwon would be part of the team?

“You have to look at it almost without him. I don’t think they can patch that up. Unless somebody could come in there right away, but I can’t because of the Olympics.”

San Antonio--”We haven’t checked them out yet, but we will.”

Seattle--”He (owner Barry Ackerley) keeps going back and forth on selling.”

FACES AND FIGURES

A 76er season ticket-holder, offered a cellular telephone if he renews, looked into the deal and discovered that David Katz, team vice president and son of the owner, is also selling cellular phones. . . . Add Bull chemistry: The Chicago Tribune reports the team is worried about Olympic demands on Jordan and Pippen--they start practice in San Diego next week and will have only three weeks off until Aug. 8--and is considering letting them skip parts of next fall’s training camp and exhibition schedule. Bull players are already grumbling about the special cases.