Unfamiliar first-round foe anything but a patsy

CLEVELAND In opening the defense of their NBA title against theyoung, surging Washington Bullets, the Bulls are facing a relativeunknown that had even Michael Jordan worried.

"They're a team that can scare you," Jordan said. "They haveso many weapons that in a short series, they can jump up and stingyou."

The Bulls would have preferred to play Cleveland in thebest-of-five first round because they are more than familiar with theCavaliers.In fact, the Cavaliers have been the Bulls' playoff patsies.The Bulls have won all five of their playoff series againstCleveland.Jordan in particular has owned the Cavaliers. He scored hiscareer-high 69 points against them in a regular-season game. And inthe postseason, he has led the Bulls to a 17-6 record against theCavs, including a nine-game win streak.Now here come some new kids on the block. This will be thefirst and last time the Bulls will face the Bullets in the playoffs.The Bullets will move out of the USAir Arena after this season andhenceforth be known as the Washington Wizards, playing their homegames in the MCI Center, which is under construction in downtownWashington.In the Bullets, coach Bernie Bickerstaff also has a monsterunder construction.Since taking over the team and replacing the fired Jim Lynamin midseason, Bickerstaff pretty much has answered critics who rippedthe team as overpriced underachievers."I can understand why the people were knocking us -especially me and Juwan (Howard)," Bullets star Chris Webber said."When you're making as much money as we are, then the expectationsare going to be sky-high, and we have to be prepared to take theheat."But winning covers a multitude of evils. When the Bulletsbeat the Bulls three weeks ago, they called it their best win inyears. Now the Bullets have a chance to pull a much bigger shockerby ousting a top seed, something only the Denver Nuggets have done,accomplishing the feat three years ago when they upset the SeattleSuperSonics in five games.I'll never forget seeing Nuggets center Dikembe Mutombolying on his back, holding the ball and wearing a wide smile beneaththe cameras.The thing about these Bullets is that they have not playedthe Bulls often enough to develop fear or that much respect, eventhough they say they respect the Bulls. And the reason the Bulletsbeat the Bulls the last time is because of a big front line and thekind of dervish penetrating, high-scoring point guard that alwayscauses the Bulls the most problems.The Bullets also have one of the league's best three-pointshooters in 6-7 Tracy Murray coming off the bench. So when the 7-7Gheorghe Muresan, 6-9 Howard and 6-10 Webber post up and force thedefenders to sag or overplay, Murray will make them pay with a trey.That's why it is urgent that 6-11 Bulls reserve Toni Kukocand 6-8 league-leading rebounder Dennis Rodman are healthy for theplayoffs. Their size will help neutralize the Bullets' front line.Rodman also provides a physical input that extends farbeyond his size. He has the energy and skill to pick up Muresan atmidcourt and even in the backcourt and make him work harder to get tothe blocks. He will force the lumbering giant to expend that muchmore energy to get into position.All in all, this is a series that very well could go fivegames.