My Reflection of the Last Dance
Last Dance is a 10 part documentary made by ESPN. The 97-98 Chicago Bulls team allowed cameramen from ESPN to record them so they could make a documentary in the future. This documentary was about the 97-98 Bulls mindset in this season and how hard it was for them to win one last championship ring. Before the start of this season, the Bulls had won 5 championships and were eyeing their 6th.
Last Dance premiered on ESPN on April 19, 2020, and ran for 5 weeks with 2 episodes per week. This blog is my first attempt at a documentary review.
Episode 1-3:
In the first three episodes, Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman talk about their journey in basketball and the adversity they faced to get to the superstar level. For Dennis Rodman, he was always short so he wasn’t that good at basketball, but at age 21 Dennis Rodman hit a growth spurt that no one could’ve expected. So with his new height, he started going to the basketball gym every day and he learned how he had to hustle for everything so he used that to get to the pros. Scottie Pippen, he was always underlooked and he had to struggle with that in his early basketball career and his NBA career. When Scottie was in his prime, he was one of the best players in the league, but was not getting the money he deserved. He was one of the least paid players on the team. This led to Scottie Pippen demanding more money or he won’t play. But Scottie ended up playing. Michael Jordan was very athletically gifted but in high school, he didn’t make the team so he used that as motivation and worked harder than ever. The next year he was able to make the team and in the future, he became the greatest basketball player of all time. These three episodes were really interesting because everyone knows these star players when they succeeded but they don’t know how hard it took them to get to the place they are in today. Also, it is also very compelling to know what they’re mindset was when they faced these adversities.
Episode 4:
This episode shows how the Bulls were doing good but they were always one step short of making the NBA Finals. So the Bulls fired their head coach Doug Collins and Phil Jackson, who was the assistant coach, got promoted to head coach. Michael Jordan and Doug Collins' relationship was very good but when he got fired Michael Jordan was very mad. So, Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson’s relationship started out very rocky. But Phil Jackson was the missing piece for the whole puzzle and everything started to click for the Bulls. They started winning championships, and Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson’s relationship became very strong.
Episode 5:
Since Michael Jordan is starting to win rings, his popularity is starting to grow and Michael Jordan’s shoes and ads are starting to gain recognition around the globe. But with his popularity, there are some problems. People are following him everywhere and he is starting to become tired of his popularity. But this doesn’t stop him from winning the Olympics gold medal and Jordan getting his second NBA ring.
Episode 6:
Sam Smith wrote The Jordan Rules, which exposed Michael Jordan’s gambling problem and how bad of a teammate he is. This book creates a wave of problems, Michael Jordan is blaming Horace Grant for telling Sam Smith about these things and their relationship gets broken. Also, his reputation is damaged. But this doesn’t stop Michael Jordan's main goal; three-peating. Michael Jordan ended up three-peating but he is exhausted-physically and mentally.
Episode 7:
Michael Jordan has just three-peated, but after a couple of weeks, terrible news comes out. Michael Jordan’s dad has passed away due to murder. This takes a huge toll on Michael Jordan since he and his dad were like best friends. This causes Michael Jordan to retire from basketball since his father always wanted him to play baseball. This causes the Bulls to move on from Jordan and make Scottie the leader of the Bulls. He does really well but no one could replace Michael Jordan so they get a second-round exit. Michael Jordan starts his baseball very well but he can’t hit sliders. This causes him to get struck out a lot and a lot of people start to criticize him.
Episode 8:
Michael Jordan comes back to basketball which energizes the Bulls, but Michael Jordan is extremely rusty since he hasn’t played basketball for a year. They end up losing to the younger Orlando Magic’s team in 6 games. Michael Jordan has more motivation than ever to be the best player in the world so he works extremely hard.
Episode 9:
The Bulls beat the Indiana Pacers and the Utah Jazz to win the 1997 championship. Steve Kerr was a big piece for them to win that year. But those teams are more motivated than ever to beat the Bulls.
Episode 10:
The Pacers are giving the Bulls an extremely hard time in the Eastern Conference Championship and the Pacers think they can beat the Bulls. But the Bulls end up winning the series in 7 games. They have to play one more series to three-peat the second time, but they are extremely exhausted. The Jazz however is extremely hungry to win their first championship. But the Bulls end up winning the championship in 6 games. This was the end of a dynasty and perhaps the greatest dynasty in basketball history.
In conclusion, I would rate this documentary a 10/10 because I got to hear what the players thought of other players and their mindset. In addition, everyone including myself thought it was easy to win multiple championships since these great players made it seem like that. But we were totally wrong and this documentary shows that. After every game, players are exhausted but their 82 games in a season plus the playoffs so it’s extremely hard to make it out of the regular season. But for this Bulls dynasty to win six championships is truly incredible and we might never see anything like that happen again.
Watch Last Dance on Netflix.com.
