European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 11, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday june 11, 1991 the stabs and stripes a v Page 25�?T by Jim Luke the associated press Showtime used to be magic a time. Now it belongs to Michael. Statistically speaking the distance Between them is nothing like the Gulf that separates their teams. Glance at a composite hox score from these playoffs and you find Michael Jordan enjoying Only a slight Edge Over magic Johnson in most of the categories that can be counted. But look at Jordan a Edge in the one All important category that does no to lend itself easily to measurement a timing a a and it becomes apparent Why his Chicago commentary bulls holding a 3-1 advantage Over Johnson a los Angeles lakers Are about to become the newly crowned champions of the Aba. A a magic seemed to concede As much after game 4 went into the books sunday a night. A a a a a they have someone that no one else has a he said. A when he a going great and they re go Iii great you just can to beat them. I tip my hat to my competitor. He a doing a great great  How great by the numbers alone this great. A a l Johnson has played More minutes than Jordan 180 versus 172he a taken More free throws and made a higher percent age of them 33 of 35, or 94 percent versus 22 of 25, or 88 percent and they re dead even on rebounds 29but in a head to head matchup every thing else belongs to  is scoring considerably More Points per game 31.5 average versus 19.2shooting better from the floor 51 of 90, of 57 percent versus 21 of 46, or 46 percent and from behind the 3-Point Stripe 2 of 4, for 50 percent versus 2 of 8, or 25 percent. He has turned the Ball Over fewer times 12 versus 16 blocked it More often live versus Zero stolen it More Otten nine versus five and incredibly even dished it. Off to teammates for baskets More frequently 47 assists versus 42 Vav now put those dizzying numbers aside for the moment and look at it another Way. Conventional Wisdom always held that Michael was the single Best player in the game and magic the Best at making the players around him better. But it easy to argue that now Jordan is not Only the Best individual player but the Best team player As Well. Johnson a reputation flows from Many things. He is a Good shooter he rebounds unusually Well for a guard in no Small part because he is 6-foot-9and he rarely turns the c Ball Over. But his real Genius shows from his ability to Force defenders into double teaming him and then a magically sometimes a putting Ball into the hands of a shoot or at the spot on the floor just vacated. Because the Ball is always in his hands he directs the flow of the game and Ere ates Points like no one. Before him. And that Genius along with the presence of Kareen Abdul Jabbar who ironically spent sunday Back on the Laker Bench Are the reasons Johnson has five championship rings in a drawer Back at his . Manse. But Jordan is steadily proving he is better at each of the first  a Michael Jordan steals magic Johnson a Thunder in the finals marquee matchup shooting rebounding and protecting the Ball a a much better defender and no better at creating Points As Well. He is even better at subtracting Points while Jordan wound up covering magic for most of the games Byron Scott the Man who is covering him went nearly two full hours of playing time Between baskets. A a a Jordan was labelled As the Best individual player because he was. But after six seasons without a championship it began to sound like a rap. And once upon a time it might have been deserved because Jordan approached most double teams As just two men to leap Over instead of one. But now that the bulls have surrounded him with enough players Worth passing to he has usurped Johnson a throne in that realm. He has become a better Point guard than the Man for whom the position was named in part because he can Call his own number whenever he wants. On sunday Jordan displayed a Sublime sense of timing. The game was five minutes old before Jordan even took his first shot a nifty turnaround jumper that pushed the bulls to a 13-9 Lead. It was another two minutes after that before he called his own number isolating Scott along the right Baseline blowing past him then frightening of Sam Perkins with a two handed Dunk that made it Chicago 21-13. At every important juncture after that Jordan produced the Basket the pass the Board or the steal to Seal the lakers Fate. He made an off balance jumper at the halftime Buzzer for a 52-44 Lead in the final Quarter after los Angeles opened with seven straight Points and a 13-4 run to close within nine Jordan stripped magic and sent Scottie pippin. Off on a breakaway slam. The next time Down the floor he Drew the Laker defense out toward him at the free throw line and set up Horace Grant with a Layup try that eventually produced two Good free throws and an 84-73 Lead. For Good measure he blocked a Perkins Layup with Ivi minutes left then chased the Ball into the pricey third Row at the forum trying to save it. This series was sold As a magic versus Michael a but there should no longer be questions about who gets top Billing. During a to interview before sunday s game magic suggested As much. A everybody at Home should turn on their Vars. Because when its Over a he said a there wont be anyone else like  bulls do it d by Ken Peters Inglewood Calif. A the eos Angeles lakers Sam Perkins had been giving the bulls trouble. So they made an adjustment Bvron Scott on the other hand has been shut. Down in lie series so Chicago stayed with the same approach to guarding him. And the bulls kept the defensive pressure on magic Johnson. Virtually everything Chicago has done on defense has worked in the analysis Aba finals most spectacularly in sundays game 4. The bulls limited the lakers to �?T."82 Points a lowest by any learn in the Aba finals in 10 years a on 36.6 percent shooting to take a 97-, 82 Victory and a 3-1 Edge in the Aba finals. A Perkins made one of 15 shots and had three Points Scott was 2-ot-4 for four Points. Johnson had 22 Points and 11 assists but was unable to Ever get the lakers offence rolling. A a we do  that defense is the most important element in winning a championship a Chicago coach Phil Jackson said a we did a Good rotation Job a said the bulls Michael Jordan who led the offence with 28 Points and 13 assists. A we Are very aware of their Post play and we have tried to take that  Perkins had been Able to score inside in the first three games but Jackson said that in the fourth game a we made a great Effort to turn Perkins to his right shoulder. We wanted to get him away from his left hand for his lefty Hook  i. Scott whose outside shooting was a big Phis for the lakers when they beat the Portland Trail blazers in the Western conference playoffs now has scored nine five Zero and four Points in the finals. With the bulls John Paxson constantly shadowing him Scott rarely has gotten the Ball and. H a s n a t h and o pc n shots w he n h e d i d get a. V. And Johnson has been blanketed by the bulls whenever he has tried to move the Ball Down to the Low post.�?o1 hats our intention to make them work hard a Chicago Center Bill Cartwright said. A we want to congest the Lane Stop them from making layups and when they take jump shots put pressure on  a we knew coming in they were Lough defensively a los. Angeles coach Mike Dunleavy said of the bulls. A they were holding people to around 90 Points a game in the playoffs. I thought they played Tough both offensively and. Def ii sively in this  while the bulls have played outstanding defense throughout the series the lakers also Hurt themselves sunday missing even when they were wide open. A Man there in the third Quarter it got scary a Johnson said of the lakers frigid shooting a i was wondering a Are we Ever going to hit. One shot somebody a Quot i