For three quarters, it was Scottie Pippen's show. He stepped outside to hit 3-pointers. He drove the lane for dunks. He dished out wondrous passes. He shut down Atlanta's top scorer.
The fourth quarter, though, belonged to Michael Jordan.Carrying the Bulls almost single-handedly when they seemed on the verge of blowing a huge lead, Jordan scored 10 of his 27 points in the final 12 minutes Sunday and Chicago held off the Hawks for an 89-80 victory and a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
"Scottie set the tone," Jordan said. "I like to finish it up."
This was the Jordan of old - not the Jordan who was starting to look old earlier in the series. He floated through the air on a couple of improbable shots that brought a wide grin to the face of His Airness, as if he's still amazed at himself after all these years.
"Atlanta made a run for it in the fourth quarter, but we were just able to hold them off," Jordan said. "I wanted to conserve my energy to have something left for the final minutes."
Pippen scored 26 points and played a superb all-around game as the Bulls took command of the best-of-7 series with victories on consecutive days against one of the best home teams in the league. Chicago can wrap it up when the teams return to the United Center on Tuesday night for Game 5.
"Our mission coming in here was to get both wins," Jordan said. "And in the midst of that, we found ourselves a little bit in the playoffs. We're playing better basketball, although we didn't finish the way we wanted to."
Trailing by as many as 24 points in the second half, the Hawks made a serious run at the Bulls in the fourth quarter. A 16-2 spurt brought Atlanta within 83-80 in the final minute, but Jordan hit two free throws, Ron Harper made two more and Jordan closed it with a steal and dunk.
"We didn't quit in the fourth quarter," said Hawks center Dikembe Mutombo, who accused his teammates of doing just that in 100-80 loss in Game 3. "I think the Chicago Bulls really learned something about us today. We didn't quit and we're not going to quit on Tuesday."
Chicago dominated the fourth quarter Saturday for a 100-80 victory, getting strong play from reserves Brian Williams and Toni Kukoc while Pippen and Jordan struggled through subpar shooting games.
This time, Chicago wilted down the stretch, but Pippen's play through the first three quarters gave the Bulls enough of a cushion to hold off the Hawks - especially when your team also includes a man named Jordan.
"Scottie was the standout, no question," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. "Michael pitched in, especially down the stretch. Michael really picked his spots. He paces himself well in the back-to-backs."
Eldridge Recasner scored all 11 of his points in the final period to lead the Atlanta comeback, while Christian Laettner had eight of his team-high 21 over the final 12 minutes.
But Recasner fouled Jordan with 40 seconds to go, and the Chicago star hit both free throws to make it 85-80. Then Laettner missed a shot at the other end with Dennis Rodman guarding him closely, Harper gobbled up the rebound and was fouled.
His two free throws made it 87-80 with 30 seconds to go and Jordan picked off a pass from Henry James and dunked for the final margin.
"He is the greatest player who ever played the game," Recasner said of Jordan.
The late surge made the game seem much closer than it really was. Chicago pulled away to a 33-19 lead at the end of the first quarter with Pippen scoring 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including three from beyond the 3-point stripe. Jordan added seven points in the period.
The Hawks cut the margin below double digits only once before their late surge, pulling to 51-42 on Steve Smith's 3-pointer with 1:07 remaining in the half. But Pippen blew past two players for a dunk, then made a steal at the other end to set up Steve Kerr's 17-foot jumper which gave the Bulls a 55-42 halftime lead.
As if still smarting from the criticism they endured after their Game 2 loss in Chicago, the Bulls didn't let up a bit when they returned from the locker room. The Hawks managed only 11 points in the third quarter on 5-of-25 shooting, and Chicago pushed its lead to 75-53 heading to the fourth.