Jordan, Bulls Beat Pacers 90-84

The Chicago Bulls didn't need their bench Tuesday night. All they needed was Michael Jordan back to his usual form.

Held to 17 points a night earlier, Jordan scored 35 points, made a big steal with 29 seconds to go and hit two clinching free throws with 11 seconds left as the Bulls beat the Indiana Pacers 90-84.

The five Chicago subs had no points, rebounds, assists, blocked shots or steals. They did manage three turnovers and five fouls.

"I don't think I've ever seen that. ... There's a first time for everything," Jordan said. "They're laughing about it now. It's good, because they know the next game they can at least be better than this game."

The Bulls, who increased their lead over the Pacers to 3 1/2 games in the NBA Central Division, won even though Indiana's reserves outscored the Chicago bench 32-0.

"Our bench players just seemed to rack up fouls, but we felt this was an important enough game to play our starters a lot," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said.

All five Chicago starters played at least 39 minutes, and Dennis Rodman, who had 19 rebounds, played the entire 48 minutes.

"Phil kind of stuck with the starting five," Jordan said. "The bench didn't give us any input, but that won't happen too often."

"Our defense was really strong. We felt they didn't have a rhythm all game long. Our defense had a lot to do with that," Jordan said. "When it came to the fourth quarter, we had a better rhythm on the defensive end than they had on the offensive end."

Trailing 86-84, the Pacers got the ball back after Jordan launched an airball as the 24-second clock expired. But Jordan then deflected a pass as Reggie Miller tried to go inside to Rik Smits for a tying basket.

Miller then fouled Jordan -- a non-shooting foul -- and the Bulls took the ball out of bounds. Jordan drove to the basket, was fouled by Derrick McKey and hit two free throws for an 88-84 lead.

Smits then missed a 3-point attempt and Ron Harper was fouled on the rebound, scoring the final free throws with two seconds to go.

Miller, who shot 4-for-14 and scored only 12 points, took the blame for the loss.

"We had a shot to win this ball game, and I didn't make plays," he said. "I think the other guys did a good job of making plays, but I played horrible for us. If I could have made a shot and defended a couple shots better, we would have had a better shot of winning."

The Pacers, who trailed by seven points in the third quarter, ralied behind Chris Mullin, who scored 15 of his 18 points in the third period. Two straight 3-pointers by Mullin put Indiana ahead 65-62, its first lead since the opening minutes of the game. But Jordan had seven points in the next three minutes, and two free throws by Scottie Pippen tied the game 73-73 going into the fourth quarter.

Indiana's last lead was 81-80 before a basket by Pippen and two free throws and a basket by Toni Kukoc put Chicago ahead for good.

"I didn't think we were aggressive on the offensive or defensive end. It surprised me," Pacers coach Larry Bird said. "It was disappointing because I knew how much this game meant for our confidence level."

Kukoc and Harper finished with 17 points apiece, while Pippen added 15 points. Mullin's 18 points topped Indiana, while Smits and Antonio Davis each had 14.

Jordan scored only 17 points Monday night in a victory over New Jersey - 11 below his league-leading average. But he matched that in the first half against the Pacers, who used four different players trying to guard him.

When Jordan wasn't scoring, Rodman was collecting almost every loose ball. Starting at center again in place of injured Luc Longley, Rodman had 12 rebounds in the first half, including five in the first four minutes of the game as the Bulls overcame an early Indiana lead.

A 3-pointer by Mullin put the Pacers up 7-3 -- the Pacers' biggest lead of the game --but baskets by Harper and Jordan tied the game, then two free throws by Pippen and another layup by Harper put Chicago in front.

The Bulls took a 28-22 lead on a basket by Jordan as the first quarter ended. Davis had 10 points in the second quarter, but 3-pointers by Harper and Pippen halted the first Pacers rally. Chicago built its lead back to seven points before a basket by Mark Jackson just before the halftime buzzer cut it to 51-46.

NOTES: The Bulls earlier in the day activated guard Randy Brown and put Longley, who had missed six games with a sprained left knee, on the injured list. The Pacers activated rookie forward Mark Pope and put center Mark West on the injured list with a chronic knee ailment. ... The Bulls lead the season series with the Pacers 2-1, with one more game April 13 in Chicago. ... Jackson had nine assists, tying him with Maurice Cheeks for fifth place on the NBA career assists list with 7,392. ... Rodman is averaging 17.3 rebounds a game in eight starts at center.