Rodman Rolls Dice With Trip to Las Vegas

Dennis Rodman, apparently hoping more comfortable surroundings will snap him out of whatever funk having an NBA championship on the line cannot, headed to Las Vegas on Sunday night after Game 4, with the Chicago Bulls’ permission, if not their complete understanding.

“We would think that he would want to start to look and evaluate what’s going on on the court with himself,” Scottie Pippen said.

Indeed, a Vegas run might be one thing if Rodman were averaging 12 or 14 rebounds a game, but he’s at only seven--and only 26.8 minutes--which is one reason the Utah Jazz has battled back from an 0-2 deficit to tie the best-of-seven series heading into Game 5 at the Delta Center on Wednesday.

On the other hand, the Bulls had Monday off and Rodman beat the rest of the team to the arena for the media session by about 10 minutes.

“Well, I didn’t endorse where he went,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “I thought maybe he was going to the state line. He made it beyond.

“Dennis is the kind of person who needs to blow off some steam, and I imagine he got it done.”

Rodman said he was “trying to get ready for the game.” But he would not say if he returned richer or poorer. Whether he came back in a better frame of mind won’t be known until Wednesday night.

*

Through the first three games, the Bulls-Jazz series is the third-highest rated final series in NBA history.

Games 1-3 averaged a 15.0 rating and 27 share, trailing only the 1993 Chicago-Phoenix finals and the ’96 Chicago-Seattle finals.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.