Sections

Sonics will rain on Bulls in seven

Okay, okay, so the Sonics' road uniforms are the same shade of green you're likely to see on Dennis Rodman's head. And luckily for Wormy and the Bulls, theyÕll get to see those stylish Seattle hues the maximum four times.

Yes, those streaky Sonics will take Chicago to seven games, despite how unlikely that might seem after it took them that many snoozy contests to punch out Utah's finest. Of those seven games, the Bulls will win three, and the Sonics will win four.

Yeah, you heard me. Put your money on Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and George Karl, the man who, but for a couple Karl Malone misfires, is the new coach of the New Jersey Nets. I know, I know, do the math. Chicago has lost only 11 of its last 2,131 games or whatever. But as a good many people around here can tell you, numbers mean very, very little in the crunch. The Bulls are the best regular-season team in the history of the NBA. Whoop-de-damn-do. Check the obituaries under "Wings, Red."

Take ChicagoÕs long layoff, too. Ten days between games this time. Sure, the vacation allows the aches and pains of the long campaign to heal, but thatÕs not really what the Bulls need this time of year. Sure, Michael Jordan will be his usual self, but the rest of that crew seems a little suspect. Defensively, they're pretty tight, but where's the offense? Scottie Pippen was maybe starting to come around, and Ron Harper had a dazzling series against the Magic, but who's to say that Da Pip won't crawl back under whatever rock he's been peeping out from under this post-season. Or maybe even get in under that planet-sized boulder Toni Kukoc is calling home this June. Then there are all those awards this Eastern Conference juggernaut has been piling up. And nobody will deny that the Bulls Ñ coached by the Mystic of the Midway, Phil Jackson Ñ are a forbidding defensive spectacle. Two words that can take a pair of scissors to those certificates of merit: Gary Payton. Who will guard Payton? Steve Kerr? Ron Harper? Or will it be one of the bigger names, like Jordan or defense-boy Rodman? Or even Pippen, who could just as easily be looking at the Bulls and Shawn Kemp from the drizzle of the Pacific Northwest.

Nope. Come the end of Game 7, Kerr, Harper and whoever else will be joining John Stockton on the used-guard lot. All these reasons, and I haven't even mentioned the likes of Sam Perkins, who will help turn Chicago into this season's Second City, or Frank Brickowski, whose little toe-to-toe trash session with Karl Malone must have Luc Longley quaking in his outsized Australian-for-chump-mate high-tops. Sonics in seven.