The sixth man is basketball’s version of a military technique dating back to Napoleon: the use of fresh troops, held in reserve, to swing the battle at a critical moment. The Boston Celtics have made a tradition of the sixth man, from John Havlicek in the 60s right up to this season, when Ed Pinckney has started ahead of Kevin McHale, just so McHale can be deployed at those critical moments when the game teeters. The Detroit Pistons became world champions last season by extending this concept to its natural conclusion, creating an entire second team almost on par with the starters. The Bulls this season have relied on rookies to come off the bench, even in the important role of sixth man. Stacey King, from Oklahoma, is a tall, large forward with a sure sense of what to do around the basket, where he usually can be found–on offense and defense. King has proved himself a master of the tip-in, and he thrives down low, under the boards, where pushing and shoving are common and fouls are a grace note. He’s a prime candidate for basketball’s version of the All-Madden rookie team, because after five minutes on the floor his shirt is usually coming untucked, and his play is never pretty, even when it’s effective. Yet, like any rookie, King has a tendency to play with his mouth open, to seem awed by what’s going on around him and to let the play wash over him from moment to moment. Midway through the season, he’d spent fewer minutes on the floor than any other sixth man in the league.
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The Bulls gave ample evidence of where they stood at mid-season late last month, in a pair of home games against Central Division rivals. It should come as no surprise that the play of King and his bench mates was critical in both games. First came the Pistons, with the Bulls, at the time, in first place by a half game. The crowd had a play-off intensity–as it always does against the hated Pistons–and Daily Herald beat writer Kent McDill told us the Bulls had had a good practice that afternoon and were up for the game. They showed it, opening a five-point lead at one point on the way to a 28-26 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Yet, after that, the game belonged to the Pistons, and the way they gathered the lead and held it was instructive. The referees called a miserable game, but on both ends of the court. At one point, Bill Cartwright suckered Bill Laimbeer for an offensive foul; from behind, it was apparent that it was all an act by Cartwright, but the call was made by an official out near half court. Another ref, who’d seen what really happened, evened out the call the next time the Pistons came down with the ball by whistling Cartwright on a foul that didn’t exist even as incidental contact, much less as a detectable foul. The officiating didn’t exactly favor one team over the other, except that it inherently favored the Pistons and their deep bench.
Most important, the Bulls were never able to seize control by putting a superior lineup on the floor. The Pistons were always sending somebody fresh in off the bench, and Jackson always seemed to be substituting defensively rather than offensively: he was always trying to keep the Pistons from finding a dominant matchup rather than trying to find a matchup of his own to exploit. The Pistons pulled out to a seven-point lead in the third quarter, but the Bulls rallied to close to within two going into the final frame.
Jackson doesn’t refer to “chemistry” in a group of players; he prefers to talk about “glue.” The semantic difference is telling. Chemistry takes time, and–when it occurs–it usually transforms everything involved. “Glue” implies that everything is already present in the state it should be, and it’s simply a matter of getting everything to fit together properly, to find the right adhesive. After the game, Jackson described Hodges as “the glue that held them together,” “them” being the Bulls’ second team, and he described their success in holding the lead–compared to their failure against the Nets–like so: “A couple of timeouts and a couple of harsh words–to get them to play aggressively is the key. They have a tendency not to rebound well. They have a tendency to be a little bit loose with the ball. We told them to loosen up, move the basketball the way they know they can move the basketball, find the right guy offensively.
