The Last Dance ended last night and it was everything I thought it could be. It really was. Were there a few things that Jordan and his crew sort of glossed over? Sure there was and we’ll get to that later. But, you need to understand that episodes nine and ten were completed over the quarantine. That’s really impressive. It’s not the way you draw it up and Jason Hehir and company did a wonderful job piecing it all together. They gave us something to look forward to, from a sporting sense, during a time where there were no live sports, and they delivered for five weeks straight. Remember, this is wasn’t supposed to air until June. So, kudos to Hehir and his team for reading the room properly and getting to work when so many can’t.
Episode nine focused on the ’98 Bulls getting through the Eastern Conference finals where they played the Indiana Pacers. I thought it was fascinating listening to Jordan talk so highly about that Pacers team. Throughout the whole documentary, Jordan pretty much talked down to every team that he ended up vanquishing. He gave a bit of appreciation to the Pistons, but I felt that he had more admiration for Reggie Miller and the Pacers. The episode then transitions into how the Bulls took out Karl Malone and the Jazz and how MJ, once again, found motivation. The end is near, but there was still work to be done.
Episode 9
– Jordan made sure to tell Reggie Miller, during Reggie’s rookie year, that he has to refer to him as black Jesus. Here’s the story.
Reggie Miller will not call Michael Jordan by his actual name #blackjesus #lastdance
— Vendetta Media (@media_vendetta) May 18, 2020
pic.twitter.com/G1LFl8ES6X
We got to see one of the funnier people in the crowd during the Indiana series. I contend that this is a 90s version of Sweet Dee Reynolds, but others are toting her as the first Karen. You be the judge.
This is Sweet D right?
— Sern (@2ndSatSports) May 18, 2020
pic.twitter.com/pHMpcdBrac
– Naturally, Jordan needed to find a reason to rip the hearts out of the Jazz and hold it up in the air like he was Sub-Zero. He found his motivation in that Karl Malone won the MVP that year. To me, it means that if Malone were smart, he wouldn’t have played as good so that he wouldn’t win the MVP, thus giving his team a better chance to win.
– But Jordan had other reasons to manhandle the Jazz and that was Bryan Russell. When Jordan was playing baseball, Russell told MJ that he could guard him. Jordan never forgets and he held on to that just in case they would meet. Russell, officially, made Jordan’s list of people to erase. They met twice in the finals and Jordan eliminated Bryan Russell.
– I thought it was interesting that Jordan knew how to play Bryan Russell based on how Russell stood on the court saying he can see that he plays on his toes too much. Just like that, Russell gave everything away.
– The flu game wasn’t even a flu game. It was a food poisoning game.
Michael Jordan confirms that the ‘Flu Game’ in game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals was actually food poisoning…5 dudes delivering a single pizza ? #LastDance pic.twitter.com/I7E4qmsE2f
— Kevin Gray Jr. (@CTSportsRadio) May 18, 2020
I love that Tim Grover, Jordan’s trainer, had an intuition about the pizza. I also enjoy just how cutthroat the people of Utah were about winning. Jordan had to respect their tactics right? Somewhere, Bill Belichick is tipping his cap to the poison pizza move. I’m sure he’s sent a few doctored pizzas during his career.
Kerr
– Out of nowhere, episode nine turns into a Steve Kerr Episode for a little bit.
– Shocking that Steve Kerr associated his game with John Paxson’s. I can’t imagine why.
– I never knew that Steve Kerr’s dad was murdered in Beirut when Steve was in college. The producers asked him if he ever brought talked about their father’s with Jordan given the similarity in their deaths. Kerr said no they didn’t. I’m surprised and also not surprised by that. You’d think, eventually, it come up, but Jordan played things pretty close to the vest most of the time.
– This was cool to see;
“I’ll be ready.”#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/BOlGmGXC79
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) May 18, 2020
Seeing Jordan tell Kerr before it happens that he’s going to be looking for him is just cool to watch. Kerr had all the confidence in the world that he was going to make it and he did.
– These shorts that Steve Kerr has on are the Steve Kerr of shorts;
– Gus Lett was the head of Jordan’s security team. Michael really looked up to him and seemed to really confide in and care about him. Gus, eventually, got cancer, and Jordan was with him for it. It was a powerful stretch of the documentary. It was like they were portraying Gus a sort of father figure to MJ. He was a guy Jordan talked life with. Gus was the ultimate cooler.
– Episode nine ends with the Bulls beating the Pacers. Then potentially, the best moment of the whole documentary happens.
THIS MOMENT RIGHT HERE BETWEEN LARRY BIRD AND MICHAEL JORDAN!!!!!! ????? #LastDance pic.twitter.com/hDuVr7h2XP
— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) May 18, 2020
Episode 10
This is the last episode of The Last Dance. We know it’s about The Bulls’ last finals appearance and how they got through the Jazz for the second year in a row. The ending is what I found to be the most intriguing part of the episode.
– I thought it was crazy that the rest of the Bulls’ players could barely hit the rim shooting those deep threes. Their form is completely twisted when they shoot. Of course, Jordan rolls in and buries it.
– We see Michael Jordan’s kids for the first time. This is one of the areas where people are going to complain that should have been talked about more. Jordan’s effect on his family. Here’s the deal, Jordan had a lot of control over this and didn’t want to get into too much with his family. Be happy we got what we got and move on.
– It’s incomprehensible that the Utah Jazz only scored 54 points in an entire game let alone game three of the Finals. The Warriors scored that much in some quarters of games a few times.
– Alright, we get Dennis Rodman heading to WCW to be apart of the Hogan’s NWO after game three.
This was Dennis Rodman and this is what he’d do. Phil may certainly don’t like that Rodman would pull these types of stunts, but he knew Dennis sort of needed to do these things to get the most out of him. Phil knew Dennis would show up for game four. Rodman did and he had 14 rebounds and gave Karl Malone all he can handle. Also, this line was hilarious.
“ I wasn’t trying anything. I was trying to play basketball, party… da-da-dah fuck all the girls.
— °??? (@AAFRHX) May 18, 2020
And so that just happened to be me, Dennis shit, you know. ”
— Dennis Rodman pic.twitter.com/t5m4G2gdDj
– And I’m officially out on the old Sports Center commercials talking about the current Last Dance episodes. The first one with Kenny Mayne was awesome but now Keith Olbermann beat it into the ground.
– Bob Costas said off the court, Rodman was a “tired freak show.” Costas is definitely the guy you want to go to find out what’s cool.
– Scottie Pippen’s back injury was the real deal. He was struggling to get up the court to the point where Jordan said he was actually scared. Jordan can’t be scared but Pippen trotting up the court, then leaving the court to get massages so that he can play another 10 minutes put fear into MJ’s soul. Pippen toughed it out. Then it happened.
Jordan steals the ball from Malone, who never thought MJ would be still there and Jordan love taps Russell and drains one of the most iconic shots in the history of sports. The final shot from Michael is probably the most remembered shot for all basketball fans. Did he push Russell hard or was Russell’s momentum taking him where he eventually ended up? Jordan said he barely touched him. Costas agreed. Not surprisingly, Bryan Russell is nowhere to be found in this documentary to give his side.
– Hey, there’s Leo
– We get Michael, terribly, playing the piano for his entourage. It must be something to be a part of an entourage and have to laugh at everything the main guys says.
Pro tip: Aim to be the Michael Jordan of piano, not the piano of Michael Jordan.#MichaelJordan #LastDance pic.twitter.com/qoHTqoYnGq
— Tim Blane (@timblane) May 18, 2020
– For the first time, apparently, Michael Jordan gets to hear owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s reasoning for why management didn’t bring back the Bulls’ roster go for a 7th championship. It seemed Jordan was, genuinely, in the dark as to why they were broken up.
The best 24 seconds viewing of Michael Jordan watching Jerry Reinsdorf spit BS pic.twitter.com/nF4x3HzSAL
— Geoff Song (@therealPepeG) May 18, 2020
Reinsdorf is basically blaming Phil Jackson. Phil wouldn’t come back, therefore nobody would want to come back. I think it had more to do with Krause, Reinsdorf, and management not wanting to pay Jordan, Pippen, and others for past performance. That reason sort of sucks because that team still would have had a real good chance to win in ’99. They would have had Jordan and it’s a fool’s game to bet against him.
And that’s it. The Last Dance is over and now sports are back to being over. There isn’t really too much to look forward to sports-wise in the next few weeks. There are Korean baseball, NASCAR, and some sparse golf matches. But none of those things will bring everyone together quite as The Last Dance did. I’m glad I was able to be a part of it and write about each episode. I hope a few of you enjoyed it. Take it easy.
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