The FORgotTEn Man

Reality set in for a while, anyway.

Right after the bye week, when the Bears were maybe one or two plays away from sliding into the "second division," as the old timers would say, Matt Forte caught fire.

It wasn't solely the fact that offensive line coach Mike Tice came up to Mike Martz and said the team should run the ball more, as Dan LeBatard noted on his show this week. If that were the only reason for the Bears' success in the second half of the season, Chester Taylor's face wouldn't be on the back of milk cartons. (Seriously, 2.4 yards per carry for your third-down back? Bring back Adrian Peterson the Lesser.)

It was a lot to do with Matt Forte.

The rookie from Tulane exploded out of nowhere in 2008, but was derailed by the previous season's workload in 2009. This year, Forte was struggling through the Bears' pass-heavy offense before the conversation between the Two Mikes Not Named Ditka.

The rest is history, albeit forgotten history. Forte averaged 107 all-purpose YPG after the bye and didn't have a game where he averaged less than three yards per carry after the loss to the Redskins. In contrast, he had five such games before the midseason break.

It'd be enough to say that Forte broke the thousand yards plateau in 80 fewer carries than his rookie season. But what's astounding to me is that after five rushing fumbles last year, he didn't have one in 2010. Not one fumble running the ball. Not one.

Somewhere, Adrian Peterson the Greater is reading that paragraph while burning a pair of Wrangler jeans.

So after a mediocre start trying to implement the "Greatest Show on Turf" at the Spaceship Formerly Named Soldier Field, the Bears realized they had a competent running back that could do more than catch the football. Success ensued. Reality was back in Chicago: the Bears were a running team again.

Yet if you listen to all the ESPN reports, expert analysis and newspaper predictions, the money matchup is Rodgers vs. Cutler. Jay Cutler has to go toe-to-toe and blow-for-blow with A-Rodg (I said it, Clark) for the Bears to have a chance at going to the Super Bowl.

Excuse me for one second. This is the same Jay Cutler no one could trust to hold onto a cinnamon roll about six weeks ago. The same Jay Cutler that's had baby fat since eighth grade. The same Jay Cutler that, as everybody and their mama loved to point out, won his first playoff game since high school last Sunday.

Now I don't give a flying cheesehead about the last fact, but I do care about the first two (moreso the second than the first). If you're not going to trust him with the keys the whole season, why put the onus on him at the ultimate crunch time?

As Sarah Palin has said to many a smart idea, no!

The Bears' success on offense lies with Matt Forte. Outside of the washout against New England, Forte posted good numbers in the second half and murked both the Jets' (19 carries, 113 yards) and Packers' (15-91) defenses in the final two weeks of the season. With Clay Matthews and Charles Woodson primarly blitzing the quarterback and Tramon Williams locking down the strong side wideout, it will be up to Forte to keep the Packers honest on defense.

The sports writers all forgot about Matt Forte this week. Let's hope the Packers did too.

As always, see you in the cheap seats tomorrow.

(Image idea credit to Larry and Tim Smagacz. Get us a win, Hegewisch!)

JS

MLK and LBJ

"...Where a man will be judged not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character."

It is the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 82nd birthday, and as such, it's important to remember those words he spoke 48 years ago on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. While he was speaking on behalf of a particular group of people in African-Americans, those words apply to everyone, no matter who they are and what they look like. The best and only way to truly know the measure of someone is by finding their true colors.

The content of their character.

With that in mind, and the Miami Heat coming into Chicago tomorrow night, I want you to consider the main reason the "Heatles" will not win the NBA title this season.
LeBron James is a punk.

Keep dreaming, Cleveland

It probably seems like an eternity now, but July was only six months ago. Back then, everyone wanted LeBron. There were ad campaigns, websites, an endless amount of talk show hours and water-cooler discussions devoted to the subject.

Where was LeBron going?

My college friend K-Mac is from the Cleveland area, and the whole LBJ saga had him strung wire-tight. He went from "There's no way he's leaving" (April) to "I hope he doesn't, but he'll probably end up with the Clippers" (June). The night of "The Decision", I texted him to express my condolences.

My condolences, for goodness' sake. Like his favorite uncle had died or something. He texted back, "I'm at a bar, crying into my beer right now."

Don't get me wrong; as a Chicagoan, I'm inclined to hate Cleveland sports. The Indians are perennial challengers to the White Sox, the Cavs have a long rivalry with the Bulls, and the Browns' fans are just weird. (What is a Brown anyway? And what does it have to do with the "Dawg Pound"?) But I understand that Cleveland has been waiting a long time for any kind of a champion. Basketball, baseball, competitive eating, something relevant that'll end up on ESPN.

With the departure of LeBron, it was the proverbial "slap in the face". You remember the scene in "The Family Man" where Nicolas Cage turns around and gets on the airplane, leaving Tea Leoni standing there sobbing?

Yeah, I know you haven't. Either way, Cleveland is Tea Leoni. And for the franchise player and hometown hero to dip like that, after saying he wasn't leaving until the Cavaliers won a chip?

Punk.

Tweet, tweet

Let's keep that "callous dumping of your girlfriend" analogy from the last paragraph going:

Say Nic Cage breaks up with Tea Leoni right at the airport, after they'd been dating all four years of college. He says he wants to further his career, but since it's completely unexpected, she's upset. She throws out some of his stuff that's at her place, burns some of it, smashes some of it. It's cathartic, therapeutic.

Meanwhile, Tea's dad hears about the whole thing and writes a scathing letter about Nic's character, calling him all sorts of names and saying that she'll be happy and find someone long before he does. He sees it, and instead of responding to him or her, he puts a response online, saying something to the tune "everything comes back around."
Remember, he dumped her, but now he's acting the part of the dumped.

Fast forward a few months. Nic's doing pretty well for himself after a rough start at his new job, even though all of his and Tea's friends from college absolutely hate him. He flips on the TV back home one night to find out Tea got in a fight with her new boyfriend and caught a terrible beating. In front of a bunch of people, no less.

What does Nic do? He goes online again. "You know you had it coming, right?" he says.

Any part of this sound a little out of the ordinary? Wrong, even? LIKE A PUNK MOVE, PERHAPS?

Switch "LeBron" with "Nic Cage", "the Cavs" with "Tea Leoni" and "the Lakers" with "new boyfriend" and you have the events of the last week. Kicking them when they're down. That's always a classy move.

Game recognize game

Things like this have happened before. Early 2000s Kobe Bryant ('Fro Kobe, for those older readers) was a petulant asshole, period. The statutory rape case proved that. But he's matured since then. It was the same for Jordan before him, and Magic before him.

LeBron is still young, but I don't see him growing beyond his current state. His previous on-court behavior and the shots he took in his commercial and last week's Twitter post suggest a lack of respect and humility. I won't say he needs those things to win a championship, but he'll need them to win more than one. Odds are there will a carousel of players revolving around Miami's triumvirate, and one of the players or coaches that LeBron disrespects this year or in the future could be on his team or his staff soon.

I think Bill Simmons said it best in The Book of Basketball when discussing the Bill Russell-Wilt Chamberlain debate: "Wilt was traded twice in his prime. Red [Auerbach] wouldn't think of trading Russ. Period." This is LeBron's second team in seven years. What are the chances he'll make it to a third?

Think about that this MLK weekend as the Bulls mix it up with the Heat. Whether he's on the floor or in street clothes nursing the ankle, LeBron James will never be more than what he is right now: a punk.

I don't know if Dr. King cared about basketball, but I don't think LBJ was part of his dream.

JS

Finally, A "Clip" Show Worth Watching

Have you ever had a moment of pure vindication?

Come on, you know the feeling. That feeling you get after someone's been criticizing something you've done, or something you've said, or something you believe in. Endlessly. The taunts don't stop. They just keep challenging you and challenging you, and for a long time, it looks like they're right. Eventually, you start doubting yourself: Maybe I'm wrong.

And then, in one blazing moment, the truth comes and smacks them in the face, knocks them to the ground, and you get to stand there, gloating. Vindicated.

Yeah, you know that feeling.

After tonight, so does Blake Griffin. And so do the Los Angeles Clippers.

That other team

I won't say that I called the rise of the Clippers. They've had chances before now, with Elton Brand and Corey Maggette. Heck, I think they even went to the playoffs one year. But that could've been the Dodgers, I don't really care.

That's how L.A. feels about the Clippers: they just don't care. And why should they?

The Lakers are going to be the team in Los Angeles. Too many stars on and off the court. Too many championship banners in the rafters. Too much cash, too much glitz, too much Kobe. Before this year, more people recognized DJ Mbenga than Eric Gordon.

The Clippers aren't even L.A.'s bastard child. They're more like the confused and angry kid from the wrong side of the tracks you feel sorry for, so you them stay at your house, like Benjamin McKenzie's character on The O.C. (sorry, had to do it.) Think about it: the Lakers just kind of let the Clips play at Staples, never mind that their red, white and blue colors are less-suited to the L.A. aura than Vinny Del Negro.

Worse than that, the Clippers have just had a lot of bad luck. Elgin Baylor squandered draft pick after draft pick for them, and Don Sterling has probably become Al Davis-lite watching the Lakers use Staples as a trophy room.

Still, I was the only guy in my house to call Blake Griffin a high-quality basketball player (Clark in particular still hates him), and I was the first guy in my house to call the rise of the "Clip Show".

To the test

I make no qualms about my hatred of the Miami Heat. I despise the fact that three all-NBA players basically decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" and grouped up in Miami. I was never the biggest LeBron fan on the block, but after the Decision and the commercial, I stopped giving him any credibilty (by the way, his Cavs tweet was just the icing on the cake). Even after things leveled out and Dwyane Wade carried them through the first few months of the season, I still find myself hating the Heat, wishing them to get blown out whenever possible.

I realize the Heat are the best team in the East. That doesn't mean I will give them the chip right now.

So tonight was a perfect moment for my predictions to sink or swim. The Heat beating the Clippers didn't mean much, aside from the margin of victory; the Clips were 12 games under break even. But the Clippers beating the Heat meant a whole lot. Like I said, the Clips were 12 games under break even.

Either I was right about the Clippers or totally wrong about the Heat.

A six-point, wire-to-wire L.A. victory later, I feel like I was right.

And for the future?

This was the Clippers' biggest victory in a looooooong time. Eric Gordon said it was probably the best win in his two years with L.A. But it's a great sign that most of the players and coaches weren't putting too much into this. As Vinny Del Negro put it, "we've still got a game Friday night."

Yes, LAC is an exciting basketball team, but they realize being exciting and making highlights hasn't changed the fact that they're losing a lot of games. Their number-one focus is with changing that mindset. Whether that means clearing out Baron Davis soon (yes), letting go of Vinny soon (probably), or even a change of ownership (wouldn't doubt it), the players are conscious of who they are, who the Clippers are: the second team in Los Angeles.

But for one night, for all the Heat-haters in the world, the Clippers were the best team on the planet. No, "The Clip Show" is not here yet to take on the fabled "Lake Show". But like any clip show, you can bet it'll be here soon.

And for me, that's vindication enough.

JS

Can Bradley Do More With Les?

The song was born on a cold night in downtown Peoria. The Bradley Braves were fighting an uphill battle against Southern Illinois for the chance at their first conference victory. Early in the game, their star shooting guard connected on a wing three, evening the score.

Suddenly, a burst of song came from the back row of the Bradley basketball band. Specifically, the tuba section.

"There's only onnnneeee Andrew Warren...only onnnneeee Andrew Warren...we're singin' our song, dancin' along, walkin' in an Andrew Warren-land."

Yes, Andrew Warren has been lighting up the Missouri Valley Conference this season. Save for a down performance that night against SIU, the young man from central Indiana is shooting as well his hometown Pacers used to. But as the song says, there's only one of him, and he can't get Bradley wins by himself. With two preseason All-MVC conference picks out for the season, the Braves are up against it, and the frustration is beginning to set in.

Boiling point

This past Friday night, I braved the blowing snow and headed to a local spot to watch the Bulls game with my boy Craw. As it happened, Bradley was on the road against Drake (AKA Drizzy, as Zach Berg would say) and the game was on local TV. After the Bulls slothed their way to a loss against Philly and I put away a half-pound of beef with fries, we switched our attention to the Bradley game. A few BU fans were in the bar, including some friends of ours, and we traded laughs about Anthony Thompson's effort and Jake Eastman's billed height (I forget that he's 6-4 sometimes). Craw had to get back to his house and help his sister out, so we left the bar and ran through the wintry weather to his car.

At this point, Bradley had just gone up by two with about 3:30 to go after Dyricus Simms-Edwards converted a fastbreak layup. The time it took to run from the bar to his car, pull out of the parking lot and pick up the game on local radio was about a minute. In that minute, Bradley went from being up two points to losing by five.

You know when you stub your toe and there's a nanosecond of nothing where you suck in your breath and get ready for the pain to hit you in the stomach? That's what happened when I turned on the radio and realized Bradley was down by two possessions.

As Dave Snell reiterated for those of us who'd had our coverage self-interrupted, Jim Les drew a technical foul after Will Egolf didn't draw a foul on a drive to the hoop. Drake sank the two foul shots, then picked up a three-point play after a Thompson foul. As expected, the seven-point swing effectively swung the momentum to Drizzy (try saying it, it's fun) and they iced the game at the free-throw stripe.

Les' untimely T might have broken Bradley's back, but can you blame him? With the way the season's going, it's hard not to be upset. Bradley's scoring options are limited, and the starting point guard is sitting on the bench with a clipboard. So is there any way to stop the downward spiral?

It's easy to be a great coach from the comfort of your computer chair

The answer to the above question: not really. Bradley was already deficient in some areas (consistent low-post offense, consistent low-post defense, too much coaching staff hair gel) and the injuries to Taylor Brown and Sam Maniscalco exposed those flaws even more. However, there's a couple of ways for Bradley to right the ship.

1. Move Dyricus to starting PG

Having Dodie run the point lessens his scoring and makes it easier for teams to focus on Drew. If Dodie drops off into a spot in the corner of the floor, there's nowhere for him to go if he tries to drive the lane. DSE's learning curve is quicker than most, and last year, he made a name for himself as a player not afraid to take a big shot in clutch situations; his game-tying trey with less than 10 seconds to go at Indiana State was no fluke.

Dyricus has two more years at the college level, and this would be as good a time as any for him to get experience as the floor general. That would give Bradley a starting lineup of DSE, Warren and Dodie at the guard spots, with young Walt and Jake coming off the bench and Dodie running the point for the second unit.

2. Act like Jordan is...well, Jordan

Of course Jordan Prosser's not MJ. He's white, for goodness sakes.

Now disregard that awkward silence in your ears and listen: Jordan's a great low-post talent. He's a got a soft touch around the basket, great footwork and his jump hook has the Walrus Guy in Section 9 dreaming about the mid-'70s. He's easily a guaranteed 9-5 every night and I wouldn't be surprised if he averages double digit scoring by the end of the season. So do like Andrew Bynum and give him the *#&%(% ball.

3. Throw Sticks in the fire

The unintentional pun aside, Anthony Thompson is the tallest guy on the team and that counts for something. Like most of his games this season, he combined shining moments on defense with missed bunnies and dropped passes on offense, but the kid is trying. What gets lost in all the ESPN coverage, millions of dollars handed out under the table and up-to-the-minute updates on Coach K is that these are still 20-year-olds still learning the finer points of basketball.

With that, Sticks has many areas he can improve upon, and the best way to get better in college basketball is on the floor. A semester at Hard Knocks University should give him better footwork around the basket and more strength going up for boards and layups.

A little off the top, perhaps

It's easy to write this season off as lost and look ahead to next year, barring a miracle run in the conference tournament and another dot-com startup convening another random postseason tourney. However, it's no secret that water cooler talk has centered around coach Les' job security for some time now. And those whispers are not undeserved.

I'm probably the only person in basketball band with firsthand memories of the NIT run in 2007. Unfortunately, Jim felt he could work the same offensive magic with slower guards and less-skilled forwards, so we were subjected to the three-man weave for about two years. It was the most excruciating thing on earth to watch the ball get handed off at the top of the key while the opposing defense basically stood still.

Added to the success of Illinois State in the annual rivalry games and the absolute disgust I felt watching the college basketball world pick Northern Iowa as the chic mid-major team of last season's March Madness, and I finally couldn't offer full support to Hersey's best friend anymore. Maybe the time had come for new direction.

To be fair, you can't lay the current problems on Jim Les. Taylor's injury was Murphy's Law working at it's finest. (I mean, a baseball player unexpectedly dies, leading to mandatory testing of all athletes, which leads to the finding of a heart defect in the second-leading scorer on the basketball team, possibly saving his life but ending his season prematurely? M. Night Shyamalan (consecutive post references!) couldn't write that twist.) And Sam's ankles will probably always be a bother for him. But Jim Les let Patrick O'Bryant go forth into basketball oblivion and has yet to replace him with a solid big man that can defend the Eglseders and Lawson Juniors of the MVC.

Maybe Bradley can still succeed with the current staff. Or maybe, just maybe, it's time for a change.

JS

Playoffs? You Kiddin' Me? Playoffs??

(Ed. note: There are other fans in the cheap seats, and like all of us, they have an opinion to share and know the right words to share it. With that said, this post was written by my good friend Brian S. AKA LeBomb James. Enjoy.)

It feels like the Twilight Zone.

Or at the very least, the part in one of those bad M. Night Shyamalan where he just makes up a ridiculous plot twist that leaves the audience with an awful taste in their mouth.

(Alright, I know. "Bad M. Night Shyamalan movie" is redundant.)

But I'm not talking about "The Happening 2: Now Birds or Some Shit are After Us." I'm talking about the NFL playoffs, specifically what happened on Wild-Card Weekend, and what it means for the rest of my January and first week of February. I'm going to have to do what I swore I never would.

I'm going to have to root for the NFC. Even if it means rooting for (gulp)...Da Bears.

Let me say this. It's not my betting side that wants to jump over to the enemy. At this point, almost any NFC team is Super Bowl underdog to almost any AFC team. Who do ya got?

The Seachickens, who STILL aren't at .500 and (get this) with a win over the Bears and a Packers win over the Falcons, which is a very plausible scenario, will host a second playoff game?

The Falcons, who looked like the best team in NFC until playing paper tiger against the Saints two weeks ago?

The Packers, who, as a 6-seed, are playing the best football in the conference right now after beating an Eagles team I thought was the most dangerous team in the league?

(Side-note on the Eagles: In mid-November, right after they beat my Colts, I thought the Vick-led Eagles were going to be the team no one wanted to face in the play-offs. Then they lost a critical game to Chicago, beat the New York Football Giants with a collective kick to the crotch that will probably be felt by Eli Manning's offspring, and then somehow choked away a game to the Favre-less Vikings that could have put them in the #2 spot. I had a feeling that they might have peaked 3 or 4 weeks too early and was right.)

That leaves us with the Bears, a team with an improved defense and Matt Forte, who apparently only kills his fantasy owners every other season. They put up a lot of points the last month of the season, which has been just enough to make every Bears fan forget that their quarterback can turn into Jeff George 2.0 at any time. Do I trust them? Not really. But do I really trust anyone in the NFC right now? Hard to say.

I can say one thing definitively: I don't wanna root for anyone in the AFC.

Not the Patriots, who I'm required to hate, regardless of what they do. They could donate their entire 2010 team's salary to charity, adopt every stray pet in Boston, win the House of Representatives back for the Democrats, go back in time and stop Spider Man 3 from happening (the 2010 San Francisco 49er's of movies: tons of hype, good director in charge, more than enough talent on set, and still somehow unspeakably terrible) and I would still hate the Patriots. But they have an almost certain bye into the AFC championship by virtue of playing the Jets (The Sanchise is still too young/inconsistent, and the Patriots won't somehow think it's 2008 and let LT run all over them like the Colts did).

The other two possibilities? The Steelers, whom I've resented since they beat the Colts in the 1995 AFC championship game. The same Steelers the Colts choked against when they beat us as a 6-seed in 2005 (still the most talented Colts team I've ever seen). Besides, I can't shake the thought that if Ben Roethlisberger wins his third title (which is entirely possible; he's got more talent around him now than he did in 2008) we'd be just 10 weeks away from him showing up on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" in the ultimate ESPN/TMZ convergence.

Then there's other team left in the AFC. The one whom I won't even refer to by name, because their fans are so petty they refuse to call Indy the "Colts" because they're bitter to this day. (Although they don't seem to have a problem with, ya know, stealing Cleveland's team.) Well, while I think they have the best defense in the playoffs, with Ray Lewis continuing to play despite the fact that he's 48 years old, I don't see "The Professional Football Franchise from Baltimore" being able to match points with New England, and that's if they can get past a tough game with Pittsburgh.

If I were a betting man (ya know, if gambling was legal and all), I'd have to say my top-three Super Bowl favorites are from the AFC. And the distance between #3 and #4 is pretty big. So why cheer for the NFC? Why do I, as a football fan with my horse out of the race, want to see an NFC team win it, even if it has to be the Bears?

'Cause it'll mean more to their fans.

Look, we all know losing sucks. And losing the Super Bowl is downright painful. I still can't watch replays of last year's game (though Visa and seemingly every other NFL sponsor is trying their best to make sure I don't forget) because it hurts thinking about all the emotion, everything I had invested in that season crashing down. But, I gotta admit, after winning in 2006, it hurt a little less than it would have if I had never seen us win it. Those old stories you hear Cubs fans tell and used to hear Sox fans tell about being worried their older family members, or sometimes even themselves, would pass away and never see their team win a championship, they didn't apply to us last year.

Of the three AFC contenders (I'm admittedly not giving the Jets a shot, unless they somehow get the luxury of continuing to play teams that have 20% of their squad on injured reserve) all have one championship and two of them have multiple titles in recent years. Of the four remaining NFC teams, only has even been to the Super Bowl since the various AFC "dynasties" took hold, and the Green Bay days are far enough removed that this is a completely different team and a new generation of Packer fans (a good majority, I'd be willing to bet, would say "Desmond who?") who have seen their team win it.

They've never known what it's like to have that full season of fan-devotion, countless hours watching games and crunching playoff scenarios finally pay off with a ring. Their team's seasons are never described as 'magical' or 'destined.' There's just a painfully long segment waiting for them on ESPN so Trent Dilfer can praise the other team's quarterback and tell you why your wideouts never had a shot.

But I hope that this year, for one of those dogged NFC teams, everything changes. Even if it is the Bears, their fans deserve to know what that feels like. Don't get me wrong, whichever team loses this February, their fans are gonna feel a strong punch to the gut, regardless of who it is.

But for fans of those AFC teams, it'll hurt just a little bit less.

The Kukoc Conundrum

Set aside everything you know about Toni Kukoc. Forget about the slick passes, the mop of hair, the streaky shooting. Forget about the Sixth Man Awards, the funny accent, the three rings. Forget all of that.

In 1.8 seconds in 1994, Toni Kukoc converted the most important shot in Chicago Bulls history.

The Croatian Sensation

In 1991, Kukoc was one of the top players in Europe. With the success of Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic, NBA teams were frantically scouting across the Atlantic for the next Euro star, and as Sam Smith detailed in The Jordan Rules, former Bulls GM Jerry Krause was absolutely fixated on Toni Kukoc.

Unfortunately, this made Kukoc the second-most hated man for Chicago that season (just behind Krause himself). With John Paxson and budding star Scottie Pippen both lobbying for new contracts and Michael Jordan considering retirement, no one on the Bulls wanted to see Kukoc make his Bulls debut.

That year, of course, Kukoc stayed in Europe and the Bulls won their first NBA championship. But the stars of Kukoc and Pippen had become intertwined.

Life after Michael

In 1994, Kukoc finally signed with Chicago as the Bulls prepared for life without Jordan. With a couple of new additions and Pippen able to shine in his own right, it appeared they might be all right without MJ. Three Bulls made the All-Star team, and the Bulls finished with 55 wins, only two less than the previous season. Pippen led the Bulls in points, steals and assists per game and finished third in MVP voting.

As for Kukoc, he averaged 11 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game—and hit a few shots like this one.

To the surprise of some, the Bulls appeared set to defend their championship after sweeping the Cavs in the first round. However, a familiar foe awaited in Round Two: the New York Knicks.

The Refusal

In Game 3, the Bulls were down two games to none and Patrick Ewing had just made a hook shot in the lane to tie the game at 102. Chicago's lead had dwindled away and with 1.8 seconds left in regulation, Phil Jackson knew the Bulls couldn't afford overtime. The obvious choice to take the final shot was Pippen, the superstar, the team leader. But Jackson, the ever-cerebral coach, called the play for the rookie Kukoc.

Pippen, angered beyond belief, sat on the bench and refused to go back into the game.

The rest is history. Kukoc made the improbable shot for the win, Pippen famously posterized Ewing in Game 6, the Knicks won Game 7 and went to their first Finals since the '70s, and Jordan came back midway through next season to continue the Bulls dynasty.

So what happens in Kukoc's shot doesn't fall?

I wonder...

Pippen's heart and toughness had always come into question over his career. The Pistons routinely took Scottie out of the game by knocking him around during games, and Dennis Rodman's taunting of Pippen was as important to Detroit as Isiah Thomas. When the Pistons fell, the Knicks imported their strategy and drafted Xavier McDaniel to get inside Pip's head. But Scottie's refusal to go back into the game was on a different level. Lifetime Bulls fans who had watched Jerry Sloan and Norm Van Lier play undoubtedly were appalled.

This whole idea was borne from the mind of a Peoria friend of mine name Rodger, who said that the Bulls were considering trading Pippen after this stunt. Hard to believe after the Hall of Fame nod, but back in '94 with Jerry Reinsdorf at the reins, anything was possible. So consider Kukoc misses and the Bulls let go of Pippen. Here's some scenarios to consider:

1. With no Pippen to take the pressure off, Michael Jordan flirts with a permanent retirement.

2. No Jordan and no Pippen obviously means Dennis Rodman stays in San Antonio.

3. No Bulls nucleus = no Bulls dynasty. Chicago stays in the top eight of the Eastern Conference, but the Knicks, Heat and Pacers rise to the top.

4. Oops, forgot something: with no Jordan revenge in '96, Shaq stays in Orlando and matures with a healthy Penny Hardaway, giving the Magic a likely shot at a championship.

5. Knicks' "beat-'em-up" basketball stays in vogue without the Bulls' finesse game to beat it, meaning the rules enacted in the 2000s to open up the game (the no-charge circle, defensive 3 seconds, the modified illegal defense) probably are written even earlier. (In an unrelated story, a 22-year-old Kobe Bryant scores 103 points on the Vancouver Grizzlies.)

6. Speaking of Kobe, what does he do without legit superstar like Shaq to give him a cover to mature under?

7. Phil Jackson's 11 rings and "best coach ever" title? Gone. Phil's good, but he learned as much from his second three-peat players as they did from him. That experience of winning with an aging squad was absolutely necessary.

8. As for Scottie Pippen: he plays well for another team, then another team and maybe another team, none of which is Chicago. Hall of Fame is not a lock and neither is his title as "top all-around forward of all-time".

9. Finally, think of all the top players who either had to wait 'til after their prime to get a ring or never got one because of the Bulls: Barkley, Ewing, Malone, Stockton, Miller, Mourning, Starks, Payton, Drexler. Imagine that.

And to think, all because Toni K was a little off on his stroke.

Revisionist history

Without Kukoc's shot, the Bulls don't stretch the Knicks to seven games, the image of Pippen standing over Ewing after that epic facial never occurs, and Kukoc's star doesn't rise to Sixth Man of the Year potential. After the shot fell, people mostly glossed over the incident.

So even though all this is a stretch, it's always fun to ask "what if...?"

Just ask Bill Simmons.

JS