Takeaways from Episodes 3 and 4 of The Last Dance

Former Chicago Bulls' star forward, Dennis Rodman, and
former Chicago Bulls' legendary head coach Phil Jackson
were at the center of episodes 3 and 4 of the Last Dance.
(Photo: Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)

What a remarkable, wild ride this has been, as we’re treated to a Dennis Rodman and a Phil Jackson episode, and a look back into the journey of the Chicago Bulls from 1989-1991 while we follow them on their quest to eventually win their 6^thand final title in 1998.

Dennis Rodman was one of my favorite players to watch when I was growing up.  I admired his hustle and ability to get after every play, and as a kid, I modeled my game after him.  Rodman was the rebound king and was a tremendous defender and competitor, and I loved his ability to rebound, defend, and irritate his opponents.  I didn’t love how the Bad Boys' Detroit Pistons teams played, but I was fond of how Rodman played his game.

In elementary school, I grew up taller than most kids, and I played the power forward position for a youth league team where a friend of mine was the best overall player there, as he was the team’s point guard and leading scorer.  I wasn’t the most skilled player on offense, but I set out to play like Dennis, or at least to my interpretation of how he played.  I aimed to grab every rebound.  I reveled in shutting guys down on defense.  I played very hard, to the point of exhaustion in every game I played back in those days.  My team ended up going 5-0 and won the youth league championship in a local YMCA league. 

1991 was my first foray into the game of basketball.  I remember watching the 1991 NBA Finals, and my first memory of basketball was the moment where I fell in love with the sport.  It was Game 2 of the 1991 NBA Finals, Cliff Levingston passes the ball back to Michael Jordan, and he drives in and gracefully maneuvers to score on the iconic, switch of hands layup beautifully to score the basketball. From that moment, I was hooked on watching this game.

YouTube video is courtesy of the Michael Jordan Archive at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiSdb16N_Dg

The Chicago Bulls were my favorite team, and it was a tremendous moment in time watching Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Magic Johnson square off in the NBA Finals.  It was like watching a passing of the torch moment, and I knew that something special was happening with Jordan and the Bulls.

  

Michael Jordan's memorable game and series-winning shot that he made,
aptly named "The Shot" in Game 5 of the 1st Round against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
(Photo: Ed Wagner Jr./Chicago Tribune/Getty Images, via Yahoo)

Another great moment was watching the 1989 first round series that took place between the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers.  Just seeing Michael Jordan play, make the game-winning shot, and that heroic, fiery competitiveness was truly awesome to watch.  I totally agree with Jordan and Ron Harper, that Lenny Wilkens put the wrong guy (Craig Ehlo) on Jordan, that Harper should've been granted the opportunity to guard him instead late in that game.  To me though, Jordan still would’ve made the shot, but Harper probably would’ve made it a slightly tougher matchup.

The backdrop of the 4^thepisode centers around Phil Jackson, as he actually has a lot more similarities to Dennis Rodman than what was initially believed.  Not only is he also a 6-8 tall person that played power forward in the NBA, Phil Jackson was an atypical, laid-back person that believed in spirituality, and they shared a common interest in learning Native American history.  He was a laid-back coach, and he filled in after Doug Collins pushed the Bulls to the 1989 Eastern Conference Finals, and Jackson helped the Bulls punch it in to win the title in 1991.

Episode 4 comes to a heartbreaking close, as Jerry Krause gives an impending doom interview about how he won’t bring Phil Jackson back after the 1998 season, which pretty much seals the 1998 Bulls’ fate as that this will be the last time they will play for a title.  

Krause’s untimely comments towards Phil Jackson came just before a regular season game against 1997-runner up, the Utah Jazz.  The Bulls got off to a fantastic start on the road, as they were up 47-24 early on.  

But suddenly, it was then the Jazz come roaring back.  They manage to cut to 8 in the third quarter, and suddenly the Jazz end up going all the way to get a comeback win as the Bulls are defeated, 101-93.  The viewers are treated to a moment of stunned, deafening silence, and the episode leaves us wondering if the Bulls will be able to pick up the pieces to win their sixth title, as we’re left shocked in this gut-wrenching, tear-jerking end to such an exhilarating ride of a fourth episode. (Don’t worry, the Bulls do pick up the pieces and recover.  The Chicago Bulls eventually become the NBA champions in 1998.)

Takeaways from the Episodes 1 and 2 of the Last Dance Documentary

Episodes 1 and 2 of the Last Dance was every bit as good as I was anticipating it to be.
(Photo: Clutch Points, via Paulo Songco's article.)

Watching Michael Jordan score 63 points in Game 2 of the 1986 NBA playoffs to the tune of “I’m Bad” by L.L. Cool J was phenomenal.  Even more impressive was that he came back to the 1985-86 season after having broken his foot months earlier to get the Chicago Bulls to the postseason, and just seeing Jordan display his tremendous mid-range game was surreal to watch.  That was one of many legendary performances he put forth throughout his career.   Watching that performance cements that Jordan was the greatest mid-range shooter in NBA history, and to me, he'll always be the greatest ever to have played the game.  If only if he could have had Scottie Pippen, better players around him, and Phil as the head coach, the Bulls would’ve won that game.  But since the 1986 Boston Celtics are also a legendary team, the Bulls just didn’t quite have enough to get the win in overtime.

Whoever was Scottie Pippen’s agent should have absolutely have told him to refuse the deal, and Scottie Pippen should’ve been told that something called “opt-outs” exist.  I know that Pippen wanted to be financially secure, and signing a 7-year deal sounds like the right thing to do, but inflation kicks in, and suddenly his contract no longer is as much years later compared to what the rest of the players were earning in the league.  From what I’ve read and heard, it seems that just about everyone around him, including his agent, Jimmy Sexton, and the owner Jerry Reinsdort advised him not to sign the deal, but he did, which seemed to make sense in 1991, but no longer seemed to be that feasible for him in 1997, especially since he ended up being on a far below, market-value deal.

Pippen was arguably the 2^nd best player in the entire NBA, and it was ridiculous that he was the 122^nd highest-paid player in the 1997-98 season.  Of course, the Jerrys (Krause and Reinsdorf) weren’t willing to re-negotiate, and Pippen almost torpedoed the magical 1998 season by waiting until the start of the regular season to begin his rehab, and that he demanded a trade.  Thankfully, the Bulls found a way to get him back to the fold later on, as they would win their 6^th and final championship, but it’s no doubt that the contract that Pippen was forced to stay on combined with the Jerrys’ refusal to renegotiate made it an absolute certainty that he would leave to hit free agency after the 1997-98 season.

It was really interesting to watch the tales of how Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen grew up, as they both experienced hardship, from Jordan being cut from his high school team, to Pippen’s dad and brother being paralyzed and unable to walk, there were some real gut-wrenching moments in seeing what they went through. 

Jerry Krause is going to get hit HARD in this documentary.  The mercurial, misanthropic, reclusive former Chicago Bull executive is in the basketball Hall of Fame, but he's not exactly a people person.  He did not handle the personal situations very well, because he couldn't take his ego out of the equation.  His tremendous desire to get credit made it difficult for anyone to appreciate his role in building a historically great team, and his unfortunate desire to want to rebuild left a bad taste in many people's mouths (including my own), and the fact that he was so willing to break up arguably the greatest team ever made it tough to ever let go of what he did.  

The team's breakup seriously impaired basketball overall, because we were deprived of the possibility of a team that could have perhaps risen to one day overtake the Bulls.  Therefore, after the 1998 season, the Bulls just sort of abdicated the throne because Krause wanted his rebuilding project.  As a result of this, Jordan and the Bulls were deprived of a chance to defend their 1998 title and were basically forced to walk away.  

Watching the 1990s Chicago Bulls was one of the greatest joys of my childhood, and seeing them break up sent me spiraling into a state of depression, and there was a time where I hated watching the NBA as a result, because I was angry at the Bulls' management for breaking up such a great team.  Watching the 1991-98 Chicago Bulls were great times, and I wanted the times to last forever.  My love for the NBA has grown back to where it was, and I've more or less gotten over the breakup, especially since it has already happened and you can't change the past.  But to this day, I have not forgiven Krause for breaking up such a historical and monumental team, but I still respect his ability to build teams.

There was not enough Dennis Rodman or Toni Kukoc.  I’ve been told we will see more of Dennis Rodman, who was the best rebounder in the NBA, and is a Hall of Famer, and Kukoc was an uber-versatile 6^th man that like Pippen and Jordan, could do everything on the court.

The soundtrack for the first two episodes was amazing, job well done by the music department.  I also loved hearing Eric B & Rakim’s “I Ain’t No Joke.”  Finally, the soundbite of the night had to be from Boston Celtics’ legendary forward, Larry Bird when talking about Jordan’s tremendous, 63-point performance, in which he gave tremendous praise when he remarked that it was “God disguised as Michael Jordan.”

Anyways, hope you liked reading my thoughts on the first two episodes of this documentary.  I will be eagerly anticipating the next episodes, as the third and fourth episodes will air on Sunday, April 26th.

Thank you and thanks for reading.  You can follow me on Twitter @AlanLuSTL.