The Last Dance Review: Three Takeaways from Episode 7 and 8

If you didn't get emotional watching the seventh and eighth episode of "The Last Dance", then nothing will ever make you emotional as today's two episodes of the 10-episode documentary about Micahel Jordan and his final season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Chicago Bulls, were filled with emotions that even made His Royal Airness get emotional too. 

We all know that Michael Jordan shocked the world when he retired abruptly from basketball in 1993 just when the Bulls were coming off a three-peat and were primed for another championship run. After all, why retire then if he can basically play for another five years? Perhaps more?

The "why" is the "who": James Jordan Sr, Michael Jordan's late father.

The seventh episode took the time to explain how close Michael Jordan was to his father as His Airness said that his father was hir rock and that, the old man was constantly giving him advice as any father would do but when James Jordan was shot down in 1993 in what the police believed was a case of robbery and murder, it hit Michael Jordan to the point that that tragedy pushed him to retire at the end of the 1992-1993 campaign. That retirement of Jordan was even mired with theories as some even speculated that it was a secret suspension that the NBA was imposing on him as Jordan was in a middle of an investigation when the retirement shocked everyone. In the end, then NBA Commissioner David Stern said that those theories were baseless and that "secret suspension" was not true.

Even after his tragic death in 1993, the late James Jordan Sr. continued to be an influence on Michael Jordan as Jordan chose to follow what his father always wanted him to do: play baseball. And boy, he started his baseball career with a 13-game batting streak until he wasn't hitting anymore and that made the media go crazy over then retired NBA star. While his baseball career may have not been as successful as his career in the NBA, Ahmad Rashad said that Micahel Jordan being away from basketball allowed His Royal Airness to adjust to life with his father no longer around and finally, move on from the tragedy. 

The seventh and eighth episodes of "The Last Dance" also showed how competitive Michael Jordan was not just as an NBA player but as a teammate. According to Steve Kerr and the rest of the Bulls team, Michael Jordan was never a teammate to have on the court whether it was in the actual games or even during team practices. Michael Jordan would even go lengths to try and push guys like Scott Burrell and Steve Kerr to improve on their games and in Michael's own words, "Winning has a price" He even told the team right after an injury-plagued New Jersey Nets team took the Bulls to overtime in Game One of round one of the 1998 playoffs that if his teammates can't handle pressure from him, they won't be able to handle the pressure of playing in the playoffs. Can you imagine Steve Kerr standing up to Michael Jordan just because he had enough of Jordan's toughness that Michael punched Kerr in the face? Yes, it actually happened and Michael apologized to Kerr after, and from that moment on, the relationship of both players improved for the better.

In his own words, Michael Jordan defended his being tough to his teammates by saying that he just wanted to win and that, that was his mentality. Sounds familiar?

If there's one takeaway from the eight-episode that is worth talking about, it's how the Bulls redeemed themselves from that disappointing playoff exit in 1995. 

We all know that Micahel Jordan came back to the NBA in 1995 and wore #45. And while he was able to bring back some of his old tricks, they weren't enough on top of the fact that he was away from the game of basketball for so long that he was showing signs of fatigue and that fatigue was among the reasons why the Orlando Magic won the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals in six games with Horace Grant then playing with Shaquille O' Neal in Orlando. That defeat at the hands of one of his former teammates? That was something that motivated Michael Jordan to get back in basketball shape for the 1995-1996 season and even while filming for the movie, "Space Jam", he asked Warner Brothers Studio if he could have a facility where he could workout. And you know what, the studio built the Jordan Dome: a workout facility that was equipped with everything Michael Jordan needed to stay in shape. 

And it worked.

With Dennis Rodman doing what Horace Grant used to do and with Scottie Pippen playing exceptionally well, the Bulls went on to finish the 1995-1996 regular season with a 72-10 slate- making them arguably the greatest team in NBA history. In the playoffs, they swept the Mami in the first round, got rid of the New York Knicks in five games, and then swept the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. 

The 1996 NBA Finals featured the Bulls facing the Seattle Supersonics that had then Defensive Player of the Year in Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and was coached by George Karl. The Bulls were looking to sweep the Sonics too as Chicago went up 3-0 in the series but when George Karl put Payton against who many believed was an unstoppable player in Jordan at the start of Game Four, it allowed the Sonics to get back into the series but in the end, fate wasn't going to be denied this time around.

Game Six of the 1996 NBA Finals fell on Father's Day and as we know by now, Michael Jordan gets emotional whenever he thinks of his late father and true enough, Jordan was able to get away from Payton's pesky defense ad finally sealed the deal for the Bulls in winning the Bulls' fourth NBA championship in six years.

If there is one thing that we can pick up from today's pair of episodes of "The Last Dance", it's that Michael Jordan wanted to win no matter what but he also wanted his teammates to be a part of that success too. He may have been tough on his teammates but at the end of the day, Kerr and company acknowledged the fact that Michael Jordan's toughness on them worked for the better and that's just another proof why Michael Jordan will always be the greatest player of all-time.  

Photo is from CultureMap Houston