The Last Dance – Episode 1

As the NBA season has been gone for a while, NBA fans have found a new source of entertainment. This being the Last Dance, which covers the entire Bulls dynasty but the 1997-98 season in particular. Today, I will be giving my breakdown of episode 1.

In episode 1, we learn about the Bulls quest for a 6th title, and all the troubles that come with it. We also look into Michael Jordan’s past to see where he began his path to stardom with the Bulls.

Episode 1

As the 1997-98 rolled around, the Chicago Bulls were looking for their 6th championship of the decade, and their 2nd 3-peat. But the franchise was falling apart at the seams. Not only were they dealing with the pressures from everybody in the league to achieve this mighty feat, they were having problems inside the teams itself. Scottie Pippen was on incredibly bad terms with Bulls GM Jerry Krause. Coach Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan faced uncertain futures with the franchise as well.

After the 1996-97 season, just minutes after the Bulls had won their 5th championship, reporters were asking about if the Bulls were rebuilding, and what was going to happen in the future. “Cubs have been rebuilding for 42 years,” MJ joked during the press conference.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Jackson and Krause had become so bad that Krause told Jackson that: “I don’t care if you win 82 games in a row, this is going to be your last year here.” This meant that the Bulls dynasty was over. But many people did not know it. Many people just assumed that Phil Jackson was not a huge piece of their success, that just having Jordan was enough. They were wrong. Jackson was the reason the team stayed so tight for as long as they did. But the 1997-98 season would be Jackson’s last with the Bulls.

The Bulls go to Paris of 1998 for the exhibition games, and showing how big the Bulls were around the world. We then take a flashback to when Jordan was drafted in 1984. Back then the Chicago Sting, an indoor soccer team, was getting more fans than the Bulls. Jordan was a freshman at UNC in 1982. He was often overshadowed by James Worthy, a future NBA player. Michael used to challenge Worthy to 1v1’s. “I was better than him… for about two weeks,” said Worthy. Jordan hit the game-winning shot in the 1982 National Championship Game. Jordan said that this shot gave him the confidence to become a better player. “I was no longer Mike Jordan, I was Michael Jordan.”

Jordan had another 2 great years at college. Jordan considered coming back to UNC for his senior season, but Coach Dean Smith talked him into going pro. Roy Williams, an assistant back then, said this about MJ. “Michael Jordan’s the only player that could ever turn it on and off… and he never freakin’ turned if off.”

Jordan was selected 3rd overall by the Bulls in 1984. Jordan said that off the court, it was an adjusting period since drugs and cocaine were running throughout the team and the league during that time. Mike was just a simple kid from North Carolina whose go-to drink was orange juice and 7UP. The Bulls were called the “traveling cocaine circus” at the time. Jordan told a story about going into a hotel room and finding most of his teammates doing stuff he had never seen before. “You got your lines over here, you got your weed smokers over here, you got your women over here. I was more or less on my own,” said Jordan.

It did not take long for Jordan’s teammates to figure out he was the best player that they had. Within two weeks, he has the face of the franchise. Jordan was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the NBA’s Rookie of the Year, and was called “poetry in motion.”

Flash forward back to October of 1997, and the status quo for the Bulls was to annihilate the rest of the league. Jackson liked to have a theme for each season, and with this one being his last one, he decided the theme would be, “The Last Dance.” The Bulls were poised for a 6th championship, and a fitting end to the greatest dynasty in sports history.

Episode 1 ends with the Bulls starting the season with the ring ceremony. Jerry Krause is booed by the fans as he walks out to collect his ring. But, the Bulls fans roared as Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan came out with their iconic player intros.

Please leave a comment about what your favorite part of Episode 1 was, and what were you most exciting about when the series 1st came on?

• Instagram

Follow my Instagram: @hoopnotions