Why “The Last Dance” will be so special

It’s finally here.

After what seems like an eternity “The Last Dance”, the series documenting Michael Jordan’s last season with the Chicago Bulls has arrived. The drama, the locker-room politics, the basketball, all to unfold before us with more detail than we’ve ever seen before.

This is the most anticipated basketball documentary of all time and it’s not even close. The 90’s Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan are of such legend that anything about them is going to be hugely popular, but this series is different. This is about their last season together before Michael Jordan retired, Phil Jackson left and the end of the Chicago dynasty.

This isn’t a drama series like Game of Thrones where watchers were eager to find out how the story ends. We know already know what happens with the 98 Bulls; they have a great regular season, a very tough postseason run, but end up winning the title vs the Utah Jazz.

That doesn’t matter, knowledge isn’t what this is about.

“The Last Dance” is an appreciation for the greatest stories in sports history and its final chapter. How everything came together but simultaneously fell apart. How one man, who had already proven he was the greatest of all time, rose up yet again, for the final time, and took his team to the mountain-top.

Everyone in the Bulls organization knew that this was indeed the last dance before the season even began. The relationship between Phil Jackson and Jerry Krause (the Bulls General Manager) had deteriorated to the point where Krause told Jackson, “I don’t care if it’s 82-and-0 this year, you’re f*****g gone.” Jackson would not be there next season.

Michael Jordan has also publicly stated that he would not play under a coach that was not Phil Jackson. Jordan would also turn 35 before the end of the season so he was right in the twilight of his career. Dennis Rodman was a head-case that was starting to cause more problems than he was solving and it was widely thought that Pippen would not want to play for the Bulls if the majority of the team was blown up.

When the team entered training camp before the start of the season, there was a strange aura in the franchise. I imagine it’s like your last ever days at school or your last week at your job before you retire; you know it’s very close to the end so you stop, look around and appreciate the memories you made during your time there. You notice all the little things that made your experience personal, and you just hope you can go out on a high.

Even though this series is about the Bulls organization, 90-95% of this is about Jordan. He’s the reason why the Bulls were so good, he’s the reason we are watching this series. Every NBA fan knows his tale like it’s the back of their hand. He’s the one with the most to prove even though he had already proven so much.

In football (soccer) there is no clear-cut greatest of all time. If you ask soccer fans around the world who they think is the greatest ever, four players will probably come up; Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Pele and Diego Maradona. Each one of these four has a strong claim to the title of G.O.A.T. In basketball, this just simply isn’t the case. I’m one of the biggest LeBron fans on the planet, but there’s a big gap between Jordan and whatever player you consider to be the 2nd greatest of all time.

Such was the career and legend of Michael Jordan.

The 1997/98 season almost felt scripted in a way. It was as if the basketball Gods had come together and decided to test Jordan just one more time, just to see what he could do. MJ had battled against the Lakers and Celtics in the late 80s, won countless scoring titles, beaten the “bad-boy” Detroit Pistons, secured his 1st three-peat, retired, come back, lead the winningest team in NBA history in 1995/96 and won his 5th title in seven years.

Jordan had been tested over and over again and had past with flying colors. He was already the greatest of all time, but could he establish himself as the greatest athlete in human history and go where no sportsman had gone before? What would he do in the face of more adversary?

The Bulls, thanks to an injury to Scottie Pippen who missed the first 35 games, only started the season with 8 wins in their first 15 games, but Jordan rallied the team behind him once again and lead the Bulls to a 62-20 record, securing his 5th MVP in the process.

Then the Postseason came.

The Bulls easily dispatched the New Jersey Nets in the 1st round and beat the energetic Charlotte Hornets fairly easily in the Conference Semi-Finals. Chicago then faced the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals lead by Reggie Miller, a big rival of Michael’s. It took all 7 games for the Bulls to beat Indiana in a grueling series that left both teams bruised and battered, but there was no time for the Bulls to rest and recover, the Finals awaited, along with a rematch with the Utah Jazz.

Right from the start the Bulls were at a disadvantage. Chicago had played game 7 against the Pacers on the 31st of May and played game 1 of the Finals on the 3rd of June. The Jazz had swept the LA Lakers in the Western Conference Finals meaning they had played their last game on May the 24th giving them an extra week to recover for before game 1.

The Jazz won game 1 in Utah and people started to think that maybe the Jazz would beat the Bulls and Jordan wouldn’t get his 6th title and 2nd three-peat. The basketball Gods were testing Jordan yet again, and yet again he rose to the challenge.

MJ then lead the Bulls to 3 straight wins including a blowout in game 3 where the Jazz only scored 54 points in total. The Bulls could have ended the series in Chicago in game 5, but the Jazz managed to scrape a victory thanks to Karl Malone’s 39 points. It was back to Utah for game 6, a chance for the Jazz to take it to 7 games or for Jordan to win his 6th title.

Against a hostile Utah crowd, the Bulls were dealt a blow early in the game. Scottie Pippen injured his back dunking the ball near the start of the 1st quarter and had to sit for the majority of the game. The basketball Gods had one more test for their subject, one more chance to prove his greatness. Jordan, with destiny on his shoulders, lead his team with 45 points and gave us the most famous moment in basketball history; the game-winning, title-clinching, career-defining shot over Byron Russell to give the Bulls an 87-86 lead with 5.2 seconds remaining.

Utah failed to score in the remaining time and the Bulls had won their 6th title in 8 years with their 2nd three-peat. Jordan had faced the challenges fate had presented to him and emerged victorious once more. The greatest story in NBA history had got the conclusion we all hoped for, not by luck or chance, but by the determination and heart of the game’s greatest athlete.

Jordan climbed to heights no other player has been able to match and It’s unlikely we will ever see a player of his caliber again. This series is a chance to appreciate true excellence and I would recommend that anyone who is a fan of human achievement and endeavor should watch this series.

It’s going to be one hell of a ride.