You don't need to be a basketball fan or even a sports fan in general to enjoy the ESPN/Netflix series The Last Dance. The story of Michael Jordan and his team mates resonates with people far from the realms of sports and around the world. The series has received rave reviews throughout, with many calling it the greatest Sports Documentary of all time. IMDb.com has given the docuseries a rating of 9.3/10, which puts it as the third highest rated documentary of all time. An obvious Spoiler Alert is in effect for this article, here are my top ten moments from the Last Dance.
10) Space Jam
Seems fitting to start with what made me a Michael Jordan fan in the first place, Space Jam was one of my favourite movies growing up, so seeing an insight into how the movie was shot was obviously great but what was more interesting was what Jordan was doing whilst offset. Jordan told Warner Brothers that he needed a basketball facility in close proximty to the set, he was desperate to recapture his pre-retirement form that had escaped him on his return to basketball at the end of the 1994/95 season. Warner Brothers delivered and Jordan would invite some of the NBA’s biggest stars at the time to play pick up games. These games would take place after a full day of recording, coupled with workout sessions with his personal trainer. Jordan also used these games to scout players and pick out weaknesses that he could use against them in the next season. Jordan would go on to have an MVP and championship winning that upcoming season.
9) Jordan and Kobe
Episode 5 began with footage from the 1998 NBA All Star Game, which saw Jordan and Kobe go head-to-head. It was clear that Jordan knew that Kobe was a star in the making by the way he speaks about Bryant in the locker room before the game. He wanted to make Bryant work on defense and Kobe didn’t back down, gaining Jordan’s respect. This would go on to serve as a sort of passing of the torch ceremony. Kobe’s words about Jordan are what makes this moment of the show so powerful, “what you get from me, is from him”, he said that he would have never have won his five championships without Jordan. Kobe saw Jordan as an older brother and would seek advice from him throughout his career, which a role that Kobe would then go on to do himself for younger players. This moment was an emotional moment, due to Kobe's untimely death and this entire episode was dedicated in his memory. RIP Kobe!
8) Steve Kerr
Steve Kerr’s story is something you would expect to see in a Hollywood movie, he's your underdog with both a tragic and emphatic journey. He speaks how his father’s murder drove him into throwing himself more deeply into basketball and how basketball gave him his escape. When he's asked in the documentary how much attention he got from scouts in high school, he responds brilliantly by stating he got as much attention of them as he did off girls, very little. He would go on to prove many wrong, playing a key role in one of the greatest Sports teams of all time. We saw Kerr’s shot in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals after Jordan passed the ball to him when he was double-teamed. Jordan told Kerr to be ready, and he certainly was, coming out big in that big clutch situation. His speech at the Championship parade afterwards was iconic and 20 years after breaking the NBA season record with 72-10 that season, he would go on to break that record again with a 73-9 record as coach of the Golden State Warriors.
7) Rodman missing training to go to WCW
I have decided from this day on, I’m going to inspire to live my life more like Dennis Rodman. Everyone knew heading into this documentary that Rodman is an eccentric character and this documentary did nothing to dispel that. In between Games 3 and 4 of the 1998 NBA Finals, Rodman missed training to hit a chair over DDP’s head on a live show of WCW. Rodman had made his WCW debut in March 1997 but he didn’t just want a cameo role, he wanted to wrestle as well. His WCW appearances were normally reserved for the summer whilst the NBA season was on a break, which is why it was so shocking that Rodman didn’t just show up at WCW during the season but in between games of the NBA finals. Unsurprisingly this caused a complete media frenzy and a huge fine for Rodman. We saw a scene of him trying to evade the media circus by running away from the press. Rodman would go on to have his best game of the series in Game 4 against the Jazz, grabbing 14 rebounds in just over 29 minutes on court. Something that wasn’t mentioned in the documentary (as it happened after the conclusion of the 1997/98 season), was that Rodman’s appearance was part of an angle to set up a fight, that saw him team up with Hulk Hogan against DDP and Utah Jazz’s MVP Karl Malone.
6) The ways Jordan would motivate himself
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Last Dance, is how Jordan looked to motivate himself. He would take things that most people would find minimal as an offense against his character and use that 'disrespect' to push himself to perform at his best. We saw several examples of this happen throughout the documentary, Clyde Drexler was said by some pundits to be at the same level as Jordan prior to the 1992 NBA Finals, Jordan went out and scored 39 points on Drexler that game. The year after he took offence to Charles Barkley winning MVP over him, he went out and averaged 41 points over the course of the six game stint that saw the Bulls complete the first of their three-peats. MJ would even manufacture incidents in his head to try and give him an edge, he made up a story in which LaBradford Smith once said “nice game” to him in a sarcastic manner, he later came out and said this was false. However the moment that tops them all has to be when his former teammate BJ Armstrong celebrated a game clinching shot that saw them beat the Bulls in Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals. We saw Jordan sitting in the locker room with a bat in his hands and a cigar in his mouth talking about how B.J. Armstrong pulled the wrong time to start talking trash and that a real man talks trash when the score is even. This was a perfect example of why so many people have been captivated over the years by Jordan’s personality, he is the human personification of the word ‘cool’.
5) Dennis Rodman goes to Vegas
It’s that guy Dennis Rodman once again, this time it’s when he decided it was of unquestionable importance for him to be given a 48-hour trip to unwind mid season in Vegas. He promised the team and Phil Jackson that he would be back after 48 hours, the fact that he was allowed to miss training to go to Vegas was crazy enough but what made the whole situation even more incredible is what happened after 48 hours of him being away. Michael Jordan personally goes to Vegas and finds Rodman in a hotel room and tells him it’s time to come back and play. The fact that the Bulls’ players were so accepting of Rodman’s antics speaks highly of both his ability and drive when on the court but also the togetherness and acceptance that existed in that Bulls team.
4) The 63-point game against the Celtics
In the early episodes, we are shown how the Bulls struggled both on and off the court, the team were not performing and as a result the city of Chicago had limited interest in supporting their basketball team. This all started to change when Jordan was drafted to the Bulls. Jordan had a career threatening injury in the 1985/86 season (his second season in the NBA), we saw Jordan express his frustration on the limited time he was allowed to play on his return to the club. The Bulls went 30-52, which somehow saw them sneak into the playoffs. Jordan’s timed court restrictions were taken away for the playoffs and they met one of the greatest teams of all time, the Boston Celtics, a team littered with future Hall of Famers in the first round. Despite just coming off a serious injury and playing in a poor team, Jordan would go on to average 43 points in a three game span against the Celtics. The moment that sticks out is of course Game 2, in which he scored 63 points against one of the greatest teams of all time, which is all time playoff points record, that still stands to this day. Celtics’ legend Larry Bird summed up his performance perfectly by stating that MJ was God disguised as Michael Jordan.
3) The Final Shot
The way the show builds the tension throughout the final episode is exceptional. We see the story of Pippen’s injury playing havoc throughout the game, coming in and out and wobbling along because even a 50% fit Scottie Pippen is better than not having him out there, proclaims Mike. We see the steal late on from Jordan on Malone as he uses Rodman as a pivot to blind side him. The accompanying interviews from Pippen and Rodman in the build up to probably the most iconic moment of Jordan’s entire career work superbly. “He’s gonna shoot this f**ker” Rodman says and “Get the hell out the way” Pippen said. With the game on the line, down 1, 5.2 seconds left in the game, Jordan dropping Byron Russell and nailing the winning shot is the most iconic image of his career, his final shot as a Chicago Bull.
2) Jordan winning the Championship on Father’s Day
There is so little to separate these top three, all incredible moments of television. Many people when they think of Michael Jordan they think of his competitiveness, greatness and the trash-talk but this showed us a different side of the man. Jordan speaks about how his father was his best friend and a huge reason why he was so successful. His death is completely horrific and we can see first hand how it affected MJ. The documentary focuses on the absolutely shocking headlines from certain media outlets, which were linking the death to Jordan’s gambling problems. It was impossible to not emphasise with Jordan during these series of events and you can understand why he looked to take a break from basketball and also fulfill his dad’s dream of him becoming a baseball player. We see Jordan speaking at length about his uneasiness of returning to playing without his dad being present. It seems as if it was destiny that on his return to basketball that he would win the 1996 title against the Sonics on Father’s Day. The contrasting emotions of his first titles since the death of his father are showcased by his uncontrollable sobbing on the locker room floor, a truly powerful moment.
1) Jordan on being a nice guy
Most documentaries would focus their attention on unreleased footage, The Last Dance perfectly molds unreleased footage with the accompanying interviews. Unlike the majority of documentaries, some of the greatest moments of the Last Dance come from the accompanying interviews themselves. There are some truly memorable quotes throughout the series from a variety of former players, coaches, pundits, journalists and even former presidents. There is however one moment that tops them all and that came at the end of Episode 7. It was well known even prior to the documentary that Jordan was extremely intense and tough towards his teammates. Jordan is asked about his thoughts on this and in response Jordan produces an answer that perfectly encapsulates his determination and passion to be the best.
“Once you joined the team, you lived at a certain standard that I played the game. And I wasn’t going to take any less. Now, if that means I had to go in there and get in your *** a little bit, then I did that. You ask all my teammates. The one thing about Michael Jordan was he never asked me to do something that he didn’t ***king do. When people see this they are going say, ‘Well he wasn’t really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.’ Well, that’s you. Because you never won anything. I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win to be a part of that as well. Look, I don’t have to do this. I am only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t want to play that way, don’t play that way.”
This is a rare moment in the docuseries where you see Jordan get emotional, it perfectly showcases why he was so successful. His mindset is so strong and passionate still to this day and it was a perfect end to that episode. This scene could be the show’s crowning moment come Oscar season next year.
They are my top 10 favourite moments from the Last Dance, what are yours? Let me on my twitter @brandon_hamme. Hope you enjoyed the article
Comments