A Win on a Prayer

Or, as the benediction before Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 ended:

”. . . And, Lord, the Hulman-George family wish the Pacers well.”

Was that how the Pacers came from eight points behind in the last seven minutes Monday and beat the Bulls, 96-94, on a three-point basket with seven-tenths of a second left by Reggie Miller, tying the Eastern finals, 2-2?

Or was it another power, almost as high, wearing striped shirts with whistles?

“Our players felt like it was Munich ‘72, revisited,” said Bull Coach Phil Jackson, alluding to the Olympic men’s basketball finals when the Soviet Union got three chances to beat the U.S..

Or was the problem even bigger than that, a league-wide conspiracy, whose existence was revealed by an obscure Pacer forward?

“Before the series, Antonio Davis said something that is kinda sitting home with me right now,” Michael Jordan said, “that everybody basically in the league, around the other teams, want to beat the Bulls. It’s pretty obvious, so. . . .

“It’s us against the world, no matter how you look at it, including the referees and everybody.”

Of course, 28 teams have complained through the ‘90s that the refs were protecting the glamorous, big-market, guaranteed-ratings Bulls and their prince of princes. But then the Bulls always won and everyone else always lost.

Monday, the Bulls did not get the benefit of many close calls going down the stretch, like:

* Offensive foul on Dennis Rodman for moving on a screen with 21 seconds left and the Bulls up, 94-93.

It was called by Ronnie Nunn and supported by the replay, which showed that Rodman moved at least three feet to pick Derrick McKey off Jordan.

Replay notwithstanding, the Bulls didn’t like it. “Awful,” Jackson said.

* Out-of-bounds call to the Pacers with 2.9 seconds left after Scottie Pippen missed two free throws with the Bulls up, 94-93.

This time, Nunn called it a jump ball but was reversed by partners Hue Evans and Bill Oakes. Replays were inconclusive but suggested that Jordan, who was battling McKey for the rebound, tipped the ball in the direction of the sideline and the officials got it right.

Nevertheless, the Bulls didn’t like that one, either.

“That [Nunn’s jump ball call] is what I saw,” Jordan said. “Then all of a sudden, the rest of ‘em got eyes.”

* Then, for the piece de resistance, replays clearly showed Miller pushing Jordan out of the way to free himself before taking the inbound pass and knocking down the shot heard ‘round Indiana and Illinois.

Jackson didn’t even quarrel about that one.

“Yeah, he pushed him but you’ll never get that call,” Jackson said. “That’s part of the game.”

* Then there was the spat between Miller and Ron Harper, after Harper batted the ball away from Reggie on an inbound pass. Harper bumped Miller into the bench. Miller made a motion that the Bulls called a punch. No call was made.

The league can still suspend Miller, if it agrees it was a punch. Commissioner David Stern attended the game with vice president in charge of suspensions Rod Thorn, but rushed out as soon as it was over to catch a plane.

“I’m sure the league will review it,” Pacer Coach Larry Bird said. “Whatever they decide, we’ll complain about it.”

As Jackson noted, in the midst of all the calls and Miller’s latest miracle (“I guess the sticking point in this game is that he knocked it down when he got the opportunity”) the Bulls also “shot ourselves in the foot.”

Leading, 85-77, they turned the ball over five times in the last eight minutes, including one when Jordan made an entry pass to Luc Longley who didn’t see it and let it sail out of bounds. To their credit, the Bulls didn’t protest that call.

Then there were Pippen’s missed free throws with 4.7 seconds left and Miller, who hadn’t even taken a shot in the fourth quarter, snatching the game out of their mouths with his desperate three.

Hobbling on his sprained right ankle, Reggie was only a minor figure until then, and felt lucky to be that.

“I shouldn’t have been out there,” he said. “When I first got here, I got all the treatment and I felt pretty good. Then I went out to warm up, and I was like, ‘I’m kidding myself out there.’ ”

Adding to the improbability, the Bulls played a fine game--Jordan had his usual 28 and the other nine Bulls shot 27 for 43--while Miller limped around, Chris Mullin missed nine of 10 shots. . . . but somehow the Pacers hung in.

They surged into the lead with a late 15-4 run, including a three-point basket by McKey, a reserve who had missed three of his four shots, and two of them by Travis Best, another reserve.

Kukoc’s three-point basket put the Bulls ahead and Jordan made a 19-foot shot with 52 seconds left to make the score 94-91, but then trouble resurfaced.

Jackson, was asked later if this represented a collapse.

“I’d call it eight-on-five defense,” said Jackson, laughing. “Man, they were killing us!”

Turnabout was fair play. For years, the Bulls ruled and the others moaned about the refs, though rarely with the vehemence, and in the detail that the Bulls did Monday.

“Chicago said that?” Miller said. “It’s hard to fathom. You guys understand, they get every benefit-of-doubt call. They’ve got three top 50 players of all time. We don’t have one.”

Beyond dispute, the old Bulls have a series on their hands, which will last at least until Friday, while the Jazz is home resting. All Thorn’s reviews and Stern’s referees can’t get the Bulls out of that.