‘The Best in Sports’ is a daily PSO original series showcasing the best highlights, facts, and stories going on in the NFL, NBA, & MLB every day (temporarily suspended). This is a special Michael Jordan Edition for Episodes 9-10 of “The Last Dance’ released on May 10, 2020. Check out the best things to know from Episodes 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8.
Below are the best things to know about Michael Jordan & the Chicago Bulls from Episodes 9-10:
During the Bulls dynasty (1991-98), Chicago only allowed one team to force a Game 7 before their 1998 ECF matchup with the Indiana Pacers (1992 vs. NYK). Like the Knicks, the Pacers were big, strong, and physical as well as talented with the Davis brothers, Chris Mullen, Rik Smits and Jalen Rose among others. Unlike Knicks star Patrick Ewing who had the same agent as MJ and were friends off the court, Reggie Miller had “somewhat of a unique relationship.” Miller expanded, “most people feared him but I didn’t fear him like the rest of the league. Miller was one of the ultimate trash talkers in the game and embraced the villain role as he played with so much confidence.
Their scuffle in Game 1 brought up a flashback from back in the day where Reggie’s trash talk got MJ going in the 2nd half to win the game and after his 44-pt performance, Jordan reminded the young Miller, “don’t ever talk trash to Black Jesus.” Reggie Miller never called him Michael Jordan after that, only referring to him as “Black Jesus, Jordan, or that black cat”. Miller respected Jordan so much and the respect was mutual as MJ said the Pacers were “outside of Detroit, the toughest series. Every time I go in, I got a new scratch. It became personal for me.”
After a Jordan-led victory in Game 1, he was awarded his fifth and final MVP before Game 2 (the 2nd most MVPs in NBA history.) After another Bulls victory in Chicago, the two superstars embraced after the game while also acknowledging to each other they knew they were in for a battle. One of the most memorable scenes of the episode comes in Game 3 as Indiana has a packed house and one particular woman represented the hostile environment.
Indiana came through in a must-win Game 3, but the most iconic game was Game 4 where Jordan took a shot to the face that caused him to bleed earlier in the game. It came down to the wire with 6.4 seconds left and Indiana trailing by one point but with the ball. Phil Jackson said in the huddle to Mike, “[Reggie]’s got a hot hand right now” as they knew who the ball was going to in this situation. Pacers teammate Jalen Rose added, “when it gets late, give the ball to Reggie.” Unfortunately, Indiana turned the ball over on the inbounds and blew their opportunity. However, Scottie Pippen missed BOTH of the clutch FTs, giving Indy another chance to make this a series.
“We can’t go out like this” Miller thought to himself before the legendary final possession. First-year HC Larry Bird drew up a play that led Reggie Miller to the top of the key where he shoved Michael Jordan off of him, however Miller jokingly described it as “lightly shoving him a little bit… and the rest is history.” Miller drained the game-winning 3 and started dancing at the other end of the court after it set in that one of the greatest clutch performers of his generation did it again.
However, the cameras turn to Larry Bird who had a straight demeanor because there was still 0.7 seconds left on the clock and he knew who the man was on the other team. While Jordan miraculously got a double-clutch 3-pointer off before the buzzer, it went in and out, missing by millimeters. Jordan shook off Indiana’s big win to tie the series by boldly stating “Still gotta come through Chicago. I don’t care what happened today.” That wasn’t the only bold statement he made during that series. They would split the next two games to set up a highly-anticipated Game 7 in Chicago.
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Going into this game, many were wondering if this was the last time this version of the Bulls is seen and if their next game will be a worse team than the Tom Borwinkle era before Air Jordan. Michael Jordan himself didn’t want to hear any of that as he confidently guaranteed a win in Game 7 to the media like Joe Namath did. However, when Jordan reflected on the experience he admitted, “we haven’t been tested like this in a long time. We were exhausted.”
Meanwhile, the best Pacers team since 1970 at the time (58-24) were thinking ANYTHING is possible in a Game 7. “It’s whoever wants it more,” Reggie Miller added. Indiana took a 12-point lead right away, coming out on fire. Maybe, that had something to do with Phil Jackson’s questionable pre-game huddle statements that “losing is a real possibility. We have to embrace the idea that we could lose” before the competitive Jordan chimed in, “nah, fuck that Phil, we’re not losing.”
Chicago clawed their way back in it throughout the game to tie it up with 8 minutes left in the 4th Qtr. A Steve Kerr three led them to start pulling away before Indiana answered with an 11-0 run. The turning point in the game came down to a jump ball that Jordan won and passed to Kerr who drained the clutch 3-pointer that got the home crowd energized. Looking back, Reggie Miller claims “it changed everything. It was a bolt of electricity that ran through the building” while Jalen Rose compared it to being “a 9th grade JV team that has no shot” after that point.
It became clear that Championship DNA and experience rose to the forefront in the final minutes of a high-pressured game like that as the Bulls dominated in the game’s most monumental minutes. The documentary showed a clip of MJ high-fiving his team in the locker room and mentioning how they “worked too hard to end here” after accomplishing their goal of reaching a third straight NBA Finals. The funniest part of Pacers series was after Chicago’s victory when Jordan met up with one of his old rivals/friends and Pacers HC Larry Bird. MJ leaned in and whispered the most savage line in the doc, “You bitch. Fuck you.” It was almost like his way of showing respect to the HC that challenged him more than any others during their dynasty.
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One major thing the audience learned about Jordan in these episodes is his close relationship with his security guards, specifically Gus who became a father figure for MJ after his own Dad’s death. Gus was there to set people straight as Jordan’s main security guard. MJ stated the “relationship formed organically and extended because he was really good at protecting me, but he was more than that. I saw him as more than [a security guard].”
He certainly was more than just an average security guard as he was there for Michael whenever he needed him to the point where sometimes Mike would call him at 2am crying about his Dad before Gus would come over to comfort him. MJ admired how Gus “didn’t take shit from anyone.” Unfortunately, Michael was the first one to notice Gus was sick and he ended up getting diagnosed with lung cancer.
After a lengthy absence doing chemo, he came back before the Bulls big Game 7 against the Pacers. They described it as it being “like we have the band back together.” Jordan joked to Gus about not talking to teammate Scott Burrell, who got bullied by MJ throughout the documentary. Jordan’s long-time friend’s re-emergence before that game was “inspiration for me. I wanted to win that game for Gus.” After just the second Game 7 win of his career, he snatched the game ball for his second father.
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The 1997 season got the least coverage of their dynastic run as the documentary started it right in the Finals with a little backstory of John Stockton hitting the Game-Winner over the Rockets to clinch Utah’s first NBA Finals in franchise history. It was one of the 10 series-clinching buzzer beaters in NBA history. At the time, Utah was just excited to test themselves against the best.
When the league considered Karl Malone the best player that year (as the media voted him the MVP after averaging 27.4 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 4.5 APG, 55.0% FG compared to MJ’s 29.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 4.3 APG, 48.6% FG), that was all the motivation Michael Jordan needed. Jordan’s mindset was “you think he’s MVP? Yeah okay.”
He backed up any trash talk right away as Game 1 was was tied 82-82 and “The Mailman” missed BOTH clutch FTs that Sunday with less than ten seconds left before Jordan buried the buzzer-beater against Bryon Russell. Utah had three guys they used to defend Jordan throughout the series, but “first and foremost was Russell. He earned the right to take on the tougher assignment and it doesn’t get any tougher than Michael” said Jazz teammate and Hall of Famer John Stockton. Russell got added to MJ’s famous “list” a few years back when he trash-talked the baseball-playing Jordan at the time in 1994 and the GOAT knew exactly how to beat him – “He played on the front of his toes. You give him a fake one way, he couldn’t stop.”
After another Chicago victory in Game 2, Karl Malone went off for 37 points in a must-win Game 3. In a crucial Game 4, John Stockton tossed a beautiful full-court dime to Malone in a 73-72 game with less than a minute left that they used to ride the momentum and tie the series 2-2. Little did they know at the time, Game 5 was about to be one of the most legendary performances in NBA history.
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For years, the “flu game” has been considered one of the most iconic and heroic performances in sports history. It turns out, it was actually the “food poison game.” Michel Jordan’s trainer recalls the story first-hand of Jordan being hungry the night before and there being “no room service. Only 1 pizza place is open. There’s 4-5 guys outside the door delivering 1 pizza,” which could just be fans trying to get a look at the great one, or maybe something more sketchy in Salt Lake City.
His trainer admitted he got a bad feeling about this, but MJ wasn’t worried and was the only one who ate the pizza. A few hours later at 2:30 in the morning, he was throwing up left and right, curled up in a ball shaking. The legend himself admitted “it wasn’t the flu. It was food poisoning.” The leftover effects were devastating. On the day of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, he couldn’t eat anything all day. Jordan tried to toughen it out and “if anything, I can be a decoy.”
He ended up being much more than a decoy, but his first shot of the game was way off as he quickly realized this could be very difficult to overcome. Spectators could see the life going out of his body after every timeout. He was clearly gassed. His go-to teammate Scottie Pippen offered his opinion on the situation, “he was in pretty bad shape, but a lot of times when you’re sick, you find something deep down you didn’t know was there. It was one of those games he wanted to win so badly, he stayed out there.”
Michael Jordan started picking up as the game went on. It was like he found a switch before he started carrying the team once again. With a pivotal 3-2 series lead on the line and the score 85-85 with 0:45 left, MJ missed the free throw, but grabbed the rebound, passed to Scottie before Pippen got double-teamed leaving Michael open where he AGAIN delivered by hitting the 3PM with 38 seconds remaining. After the Utah timeout came the iconic visual of Jordan walking to the huddle hugging Pippen as his fatigue was near unbearable.
It stood as a metaphor for their entire relationship. Pippen made it clear, “no matter how sick he is, he’s still the best player in the world.” The Jazz HC Jerry Sloan somehow didn’t know he was sick, humorously saying to the media in the postgame press conference, “Did everybody else know he was sick? Guess I was the last one to know.” Fortunately for the Bulls, Air Jordan would be all good and feeling much better before Game 6.
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Episode 9 of the Last Dance documentary began to dive into Steve Kerr’s significance to the Bulls and Michael Jordan’s story. Kerr believed MJ looked at him as an overachiever as he wasn’t drafted high or recruited heavily at all. Kerr even admitted there was “not many girls, not many college scholarship offers” who was just thrilled to go anywhere before starting his four-year career at the University of Arizona.
His father was the President of American University when Kerr was growing up, but tragically shot in the head by two men. Basketball was Kerr’s way of taking his mind off it. He never came close to being a superstar by any means as he knew he’d be a role player like John Paxson, who starred in the same role as Kerr in Chicago’s first three-peat of the decade. Paxson mentored Kerr and informed him that “if Michael’s going to battle with you, he needs to know you’re in it and you won’t back down,” which Jordan found out first-hand during their scuffle in practice the year prior.
Despite the common ground of both of their fathers being murdered, Kerr claimed “we never discussed our fathers. Could never get to Mike’s emotions. Michael lived a different life from the rest of the world.” That toughness that came from growing up without a Father came into play in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals. Kerr hadn’t performed well in the Finals before that point but in a 86-86 point game with 28 seconds left, it was about to be Kerr’s time to shine. In the timeout prior to the play, Michael mumbled to Steve to be ready where Kerr yelled back, “If they come off, I’ll be ready”
During the final possession, as Michael predictably got double-teamed, he passed it to a wide-open Steve Kerr who drained the biggest shot of his career. Jordan didn’t mind not being the one to make the final shot as he just wanted to win any way possible. He even practically kissed Kerr’s cheek in the huddle after that heroic shot to show his affection for coming through in a big moment like that. Chicago got to celebrate the title on their own floor for the second consecutive season.
The greatest scorer of all-time gave credit to the underdog who stepped up when it mattered most, saying, “tonight, Steve earned his wings and I’m happy for him.” One of the most humorous parade moments followed when Steve Kerr stepped up with the mic on stage and joked about the shot by saying that MJ said to the coach in the huddle, “why don’t we give it to Steve. So I thought to myself, well I guess I got to bail Michael out once again.” as everyone laughed at Kerr’s obvious sarcasm.
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After losing in heart-breaking fashion in 1997, the Utah Jazz were back for revenge in their 1998 Finals matchup with the Bulls. The atmosphere in Utah going into the series was essentially “this is it, we can finally vanquish them.” Especially since the Bulls were running on fumes after a challenging seven-game series in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bulls had to fly out west the day after Game 7 which led to an intriguing scene of MJ jamming out before the game to a song that hadn’t been released yet because “you know how I get it.” It seems the whole point of adding that scene in the documentary was to serve as a reminder of the larger-than-life superstar Jordan was.
The Jazz’s building had an electric atmosphere which Phil Jackson described CHI’s position as being “like sheep to the wolves.” MJ’s kids couldn’t even go to Utah because it was that hostile. His kids appeared on the documentary for the first time to explain their perspective, “It was so loud. As a family, we didn’t like the Jazz at all.” Game 1 saw Phil Jackson cursing at the team to get focused before MJ passed it to Luc Longley who hit the game-tying shot to force OT. In overtime though, the Jazz pulled away after Stockton finished the clutch and-1.
Chicago won a close Game 2 before absolutely dominating Game 3. They held Utah to only 54 points, the lowest in any game in history. Not just Finals history, NBA history. It also served as the largest blowout in NBA Finals history thanks to a 42-point victory. Jerry Sloan joked in the post-game press conference by asking the media “was this the final score?” The Bulls once again won Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 lead that gave Chicago a chance to end the last dance on their own dance floor before having to face a potential Game 6 & 7 in Utah.
In Game 5 though, Malone wasn’t ready to go down without a fight as he dropped 39 points and hit the most important shot to take a 4-point lead with less than a minute remaining. However, a Toni Kukoc 3-pointer with five seconds left made it a one-point game. Stockton missed one of his two free throws that gave Chicago a chance to end it once and for all. The Bulls inbounded it to Jordan with about a second on the clock. He was forced to take a heavily contested, off-balanced 3 that still had the entire crowd on the edge of their seats. It was an air ball. MJ said after the game it was “kind of cute how everyone was holding their breath expecting me to make the shot.”
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One of the most bizarre storylines throughout the “Last Dance” documentary has been Dennis Rodman’s wildcard antics. First, it was his trip to Las Vegas in the middle of the season, and then episode 10 revealed how he unexpectedly skipped a NBA Finals practice to attend a pro wrestling event. It’s crazy to think of a professional athlete skipping a practice during a Championship series to go have some fun on national TV elsewhere, but that’s exactly what happened.
He essentially “took a detour from basketball to be a wrestler with Hulk Hogan” as former girlfriend Carmen Electra described it. Rodman’s response to the whole fiasco was “I was just trying to be me, play basketball, party, and fuck all the girls” in classic Rodman fashion. Hulk Hogan believed “there are some things worth missing practice for” right before they showed a scene of Hogan and Rodman brutally beating the nWo’s enemy with a steel chair.
This situation added to Rodman’s carefully cultivated ‘bad boy’ reputation and the media became obsessive over the story. As the questions continued to pile up relating to Rodman’s absence, Phil Jackson sent a powerful message to the media that this is “only taking away your focus from the Finals, not ours.”
Once Rodman returned, the media continued to storm the facility hoping for answers. The Bulls tried to sneak Rodman out of the arena since he already got fined and wasn’t required to speak to anyone. As they found a secret side exit for him to leave out of, some media members noticed Rodman and started chasing him before Dennis literally ran away from the media. In the end, missing practice didn’t matter much as Rodman grabbed every rebound in sight in Game 4, totaling 14 (his highest of the series) and made clutch free throws to help the Bulls take a 3-1 lead.
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The Last Dance all came down to Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. At this point, if the Bulls are going to win an incredible sixth championship in eight years, it was going to have to be in Utah. The documentary showed the calm before the storm in the rehab room where Scottie Pippen had back stiffness that proved to be a major storyline of the game. Considering no road team had ever won Game 7 in the Finals up to that point, Game 6 became even more important.
On the first play of the game, Pippen scored an easy two points on a dunk, but re-injured his back in the process. He had to tell MJ “I can’t go no more, I’m done” before going back to the locker room to get treatment as he lost mobility and was having a hard time even functioning. Malone dominated once Pippen left as the Bulls were just trying to hold on without their Hall of Fame SF. The Jazz turned their attention to Jordan by trying to wear him down. Chicago needed Michael to step up and he did.
After halftime, Pippen worked his way to come back as he was back and fourth between the locker room and the court multiple times. Pippen admitted on the documentary that while he was on the floor, “I came in as a decoy the whole game.” While Pippen’s toughness showed on the biggest stage, Rodman and Malone were battling, bumping each other up the court trying to show their own toughness as well. In the meantime, Jordan was gutting it out as he was using all his energy to carry the offensive load, but fatigue was showing as all of his jumpers came up short in the 4th quarter.
Playing through the pain, Pippen got a clutch steal on Malone that led to MJ sinking a jumper for Chicago’s first lead of the second half with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter. Stockton answered to take a 3-point lead before Pippen finally showed some life with a turnaround jumper. Game 6 was going back and fourth as it entered the final minute all tied up. Utah ran the offense through Malone on the left post who found an open Stockton on the other side of the court for a 3-point lead with 40 seconds left. Phil Jackson called a timeout and what followed was one of the greatest sequences ever seen in any sport.
To refresh anyone who doesn’t know the story, MJ got a quick layup on Russell to cut the deficit to one. Then he read Utah’s play on the other end to a t, stealing the ball right from Malone’s pocket from that same left post area. A great no-timeout call from Jackson allowed the Jazz not to get a defensive plan in place for the inevitable. Everyone in the arena knew Jordan was going to take the last shot. Teammate Scottie Pippen’s mindset was just to “get the hell out the way” while Rodman knew Jordan “was going to shoot this fucker. He’s not going to pass the ball. This is his turn.” After Michael Jordan drained the greatest shot of his professional career the announcers let the world know that “Michael Jordan’s running on fumes with 45 points. He’s a killer.”
While that play is surrounded by controversial thanks to what some consider a push-off, the ref couldn’t see it and MJ called “Bullshit. I didn’t push him that way. I didn’t have to push him. [He was already going that way].” Push or not, the last shot Jordan ever took with the Bulls was the game-winner in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. After that legendary play, there was still five seconds on the clock. Jordan was “tired as hell. Exhausted. But I have one more stop. I’m trying to muster up the energy to go back out there.” After Stockton missed the 3pt attempt, Michael Jordan was officially a 6x NBA Champion as he let the world know with his six-finger celebration. Phil Jackson put it best when he said, Jordan “delivered every time he was asked to in these type of situations.” It’s why he’s considered the Greatest of All-Time.
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As the Bulls celebrated their sixth championship, many memorable scenes emerged including MJ pouring champagne on Rodman’s famous hair, a young Leonardo DiCaprio making an appearance, and MJ continuously saying “six” in the locker room. Gus helped MJ get through a packed crowd afterward with Kerr acknowledging how “amazing feeling that rush” was because of the people’s admiration of Jordan.
In the hotel room, Carmen Electra is there to kiss the trophy while Jordan has a signature cigar in his mouth and is playing the piano while embracing the moment. MJ admitted “Scottie going down scared the shit out of me.” Pippen reflects on the blessings he had in his career as he “played with the greatest coach, greatest player, and greatest GM in the game.” At the parade, Jordan gave a message for the Windy City: “Thank you for our last dance. My heart, love, and soul will always be with the city of Chicago.
Michael Jordan advanced the game tremendously in his career, playing a pivotal role in the NBA going from being popular in very few countries to it now being a global phenomenon. Jordan credited ‘starting with hope’ as a key factor in taking a “shitty team to an all-time best dynasty.” Barack Obama said it best, “there are certain sports figures that had a larger than culture force. He created a different way of thinking for African Americans. He changed the way people think of athletics in culture. Michael Jordan and the Bulls changed culture.”
One scene that wasn’t shown and previously never discussed was when Phil Jackson organized a private meeting between the Bulls players and himself. “This is it, this is the last dance,” Phil said as he instructed the players to write down what being on this team meant to each of them before they’d burn it in a coffee can. Michael ended up writing a poem which he reflected on by claiming “I’m not a poet. I just wrote what I felt at the time” during an emotional gathering. Phil Jackson lit the can after turning off the lights in “one of the most powerful things” Steve Kerr has ever seen.
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One of the biggest “what ifs” in NBA history is if the 3x reigning champs ran it back one more time in the 1998-99 season. While some dispute that it would have led to the same success for the aging, fatigued veterans, a lockout that cut nearly half of the following season could’ve provided them with enough rest to be the same force by the time the Playoffs came around. However, management had other plans. Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf defended the move, “It would’ve been suicidal to bring them all back. Their market value was all too high. They wouldn’t be worth it.”
After Jerry Krause said Phil Jackson could go 82-0 and never be the coach again after the season, it seemed to slam the door on that, but Reinsdorf offered Jackson the chance to come back when he pulled off another trifecta, regardless of what was previously said. Yet Phil didn’t think it was fair to Krause, who was ready to work with a new HC. Jackson said “this was a great run, but [it’s] time to go.” He proceeded to join the Los Angeles Lakers and help them win five titles over the next decade.
Michael clearly wanted to run it back instead of having to retire. He explained they “only needed one little match to start that whole fire. Scottie would be the hardest to bring back but he wouldn’t want to miss this” (referring to a chance to win their seventh championship). Either way it was maddening for his career to be shortened in his peak. Jordan added, “1998 was much better than any other year because I could use my mind as well as my body. To not be able to try [to defend our title], that’s just something I can’t accept.” Rookie Jordan just wanted the Bulls franchise to be respected like the Lakers, Celtics, and 76ers. Whether they ran it back again or not, it’s safe to say: mission accomplished.
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