Good afternoon, everyone. I am here to give you my thoughts on Episode 5 of “The Last Dance”, the documentary about the Chicago Bulls’ championship dynasty of the 1990s. Without any delay, let’s get right into it.
The episode begins with these words: “In Loving Memory of Kobe Bryant.” The interview that was done with him was recorded before his unfortunate death in January of 2020. The first part of the episode covers the 1998 NBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden, which Kobe was a part of. Kobe talked about Jordan giving him guidance and advice about basketball that, eventually, helped him win 5 championships with the Lakers. Kobe admitted that the 5 titles that he won would not happen without Jordan’s guidance. He said that Michael was a “big brother” to him, even though they are not related. The episode shows a few highlights by both Jordan and Kobe at the All-Star game. The East won over the West 135-114, with Jordan getting MVP honors after the game. The episode then focuses on March 8, 1998. It was Jordan’s last game (as a Bull) at Madison Square Garden, and he wore the original Air Jordan 1’s at that game.
The episode then flashes back to June 1984, before Michael began his rookie season. He originally wanted Adidas for his shoe (after being rejected by Converse), but his mother told him to give the people at Nike a chance. Jordan eventually signed on with Nike, who then created the Air Jordan shoe. That shoe went on to make $126 million in sales within 1 year. Everyone wanted a pair of Air Jordan shoes, from regular folks to celebrities. They were even shown in a couple of Spike Lee films, including “She’s Gotta Have It” and “Do the Right Thing.” Jordan and Spike Lee even did a commercial together, in which Lee played his character Mars Blackmon from “She’s Gotta Have It.” Jordan said himself that all of the endorsements and commercials were possible due to his play on the court. The episode then goes back to that game at MSG in 1998, in which Jordan scored 42 points on the Knicks. By halftime, his feet were bleeding due his shoes being too small. It really did not bother him from playing the game very well that night. By the time he took off his shoe, his sock was soaked in blood. After that game, there were only six weeks before the playoffs.
Episode 5 then flashes back to November of 1991, when the Chicago Bulls were beginning the quest to repeat as NBA champions. They breezed through the regular season with a 67-15 record heading into the playoffs. Jordan won the third of his 5 NBA MVP awards that year. They swept the Heat in the first round, beat the Knicks in a grueling 7-game semifinals series (more on the Knicks in Episode 6), and beat the Cavs in 6 games in the Eastern Conference Finals on their way to the NBA Finals. The Portland Trail Blazers were their opponent this time. Jordan did not like being compared to Clyde Drexler before the Finals began. He wanted to prove that he was the better player, and he did just that starting with Game 1. That game is famously known as “The Shrug Game” because Jordan did that after making 6 three-pointers in the first half of a dominant Bulls victory. After a hard-fought series, the Bulls won their second straight NBA title in 6 games.
After the Bulls won the title, Jordan and Pippen went to Barcelona to play for the “Dream Team” at the 1992 Summer Olympics. However, there was some drama before the Olympics started because Jordan did not want to play with Isiah Thomas. It was not just Jordan that did not want him in there. Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, and Magic Johnson did not really want him there either. Jordan just wanted to have fun during the whole thing, while playing hard along the way. The things that he treasured the most were the camaraderie within the team and the hard practices in Monte Carlo. During one practice, Jordan went off on the opposition for a few baskets in a row. There was a funny moment where Magic Johnson threw the ball into the empty stands. After the practice, the bus was quiet until Magic said something about not messing with Jordan. Once he said that, the players were laughing on the bus.
The episode then focuses on Toni Kukoc, who was drafted by the Bulls in 1990. Because of the war in Yugoslavia near where he lived (in Croatia) he played overseas for a couple more years. In the first meeting between the U.S. and Croatia, Kukoc was defended well by Jordan and Pippen. He only scored 4 points and had 7 turnovers in that game. When the two countries played again in the Gold Medal game, Kukoc played much better with 16 points and 9 assists. The “Dream Team” won the gold medal by a score of 117-85, but Kukoc impressed some people that day. There was more controversy because of the Reebok logo on the U.S. team uniforms because of Jordan being with Nike. Michael hid the logo with the U.S. flag while receiving his gold medal (his second after winning in 1984). Because of the success of the “Dream Team”, the NBA got bigger internationally. Michael himself became a global icon after the Olympics. The episode then showed the iconic “Be Like Mike” commercial for Gatorade. It then focuses for a little bit on Jordan not supporting Harvey Gantt for Senate in the state of North Carolina in 1990. He was quoted in saying “Republicans buy sneakers, too.” Jordan really did not care about being a political advocate, as he wanted to just play basketball. He did send a contribution to support him, but Gantt lost to Jesse Helms in the Senate race.
The episode then goes back to March 1998, during the final weeks of the regular season. In that season, ticket requests were through the roof because everyone wanted to see the Bulls’ potential last season together. On March 27, the Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks played in front of 62,046 people at the Georgia Dome. There was also a neat moment where Jerry Seinfeld visited the Bulls locker room in the Forum. The episode ends with a monologue by Jordan about the ultimate goal being the NBA championship.
There were a couple of new things that I learned from Episode 5. First, I really did not know the reason why Jordan had the U.S. flag draped over his shoulder. I thought it was just patriotic, but then I learned about the Reebok logo controversy from this episode. I found it crazy that the Bulls and Hawks played in front of 62,046 people at the Georgia Dome (during the regular season). I knew about the “Dream Team”, but I did not know that Kukoc played against them for Croatia before I saw it. It’s still fascinating to see the behind the scenes footage from the 1997-98 season (plus all the older footage as well). Finally, it was touching to see Kobe talk about Jordan and that his titles would not happen without MJ’s guidance and advice.
We are halfway done with these posts. Stay tuned for my thoughts on Episode 6. Have a great day, everyone.
Comments