‘The Last Dance’ recap: Michael Jordan faces his demons

Through what we’ve seen so far in ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” it is abundantly clear that Michael Jordan’s unparalleled “win at all costs” mentality propelled him into an echelon of greatness that only he could claim. During night four, however, it became equally clear that his hyper-competitive nature and borderline pettiness rubbed more than one …

Through what we’ve seen so far in ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” it is abundantly clear that Michael Jordan’s unparalleled “win at all costs” mentality propelled him into an echelon of greatness that only he could claim.

During night four, however, it became equally clear that his hyper-competitive nature and borderline pettiness rubbed more than one person the wrong way. And that’s putting it kindly: one would be more than justified in thinking Jordan was a straight-up jerk after watching these episodes.

The episode starts off on a much more somber note, though: In 1993, after the Bulls had won their third-straight title over the Phoenix Suns, Jordan was exhausted. He had made it up in his mind that he was going to retire, but had only told one person of his plans – his father, James Jordan.

In July of 1993, James went missing. Three weeks later, his body was found near a creek in North Carolina. Two teenagers were charged with his murder, apparently having committed the crime after he pulled over to the side of the road to take a nap.

James was Michael’s “rock,” his best friend. Obviously, he was devastated, but with Michael’s gambling in the news so recently, the days that followed were “not journalism’s finest hour,” according to then Bulls PR boss Brian McIntyre,  and made things worse. Speculation ran wild that his father’s murder had something to do with his gambling losses.

“There was not a thimble’s worth of evidence to connect that horrible incident to Michael Jordan’s gambling or any other aspect of Michael Jordan’s behavior,” Bob Costas said. Sam Smith added that it was “cheap shot stuff.”

Later that summer, Jordan threw out the first pitch at the Chicago White Sox game – a team also owned by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf. He then went up to Reinsdorf’s suite and informed him he was going to retire. He called a press conference for the next day, but news leaked out that night, and Jordan was mobbed as he left the stadium. At the next day’s news conference, seemingly every reporter in America was there.

“It was one of those seismic, ‘where were you when you heard the news’ moments,” said Andrea Kremer. “You immediately think why? Nobody could rationalize that Michael would just walk away.”

The gambling speculation continued, and more rumors flew that his “retirement” was a secret suspension from commissioner David Stern. Author Mark Vancil on those rumors: “You think David Stern, the ultimate capitalist, would take his number one player on his number one franchise, and unilaterally decide to lower of the value of the rest of the league’s franchises?” McIntyre said. “How do I phrase this delicately? Total bulls–t.”

Stern himself added: “There’s no basis in fact. It’s just not true.”

The episode then ventures into Jordan’s brief dalliance with baseball, and does a decent job of dispelling the rumors that he was totally overmatched in the minor leagues. He drove in 50 runs in his first full season and started his career with a 13-game hitting streak, though that was before pitchers started throwing him breaking balls.

Terry Francona, who was Jordan’s manager for the Birmingham Barons, said: “We had a lot of good prospects who didn’t drive in 50 runs. In my opinion, you give him 1,500 at-bats, he’d find a way to get to the major leagues.”

The show jumps back ahead to 1998. After “slipping” against the Nets in the first round of the playoffs (which, for the Bulls, means getting taken to OT in the first game of a sweep), he went after his teammates. “He said, you motherf–kers didn’t do a thing today, come tomorrow to practice,” he said to Scott Burrell.

Burrell was a constant target of MJ’s.

“He was a talented guy,” Jordan said. “What [Burrell] was lacking was a commitment or a determination, or a seriousness. He became my guy to push, to keep pushing. I tried to get him to fight me a couple times.”

Burrell was “such a nice guy” and never snapped back, but Jordan’s other teammates didn’t handle the insane pressure as well.

“He was an a–hole, he was a jerk, he crossed the line numerous times,” said Will Perdue. But it often worked – Burrell came through with 23 points in that third game against the Nets to sweep the series. “As time goes on and you think back about what he was trying to accomplish, you think, yeah, he was a hell of a teammate,” Perdue said.

Chicago played former Bulls guard B.J. Armstrong and the Charlotte Hornets in the next round of the playoffs. The Bulls were the far superior team, but Armstrong “had a moment” in Game 2, hitting the deciding jump shot in the Hornets’ upset victory. After he hit the shot, he leapt into the air and screamed, a display of emotion that Jordan didn’t appreciate from his former teammate.

“B.J. should know better,” Jordan said. “If you’re going to high five, trash talk, now I have a bone to pick with you. I’m supposed to kill this guy, I’m supposed to dominate that guy. And from that point on, I did.” Chicago closed out the series without another loss, and Jordan both attacked Armstrong on offense and defended him with vigor.

Jordan had a way of holding grudges that puts Aaron Rodgers to shame. In 1993, Chicago had a home-and-away against the “terrible” Washington Bullets. LaBradford Smith, the Bullets’ shooting guard, had the game of his life in their first meeting, scoring 37 points while Jordan struggled. Jordan claimed Smith told him “Nice game, Mike,” at the end of the game, and he took major offense to that.

The next day, Jordan vowed to score as many points as Smith did in just the first half. Jordan scored 36 in the first, attacking and embarrassing a player who would spend just three anonymous seasons in the NBA.

“I’ve never seen a man go after another player the way he did,” said Armstrong. Then, years later, rumors emerged that the alleged postgame conversation didn’t happen at all. When asked about it, Jordan admitted that yes, he did, in fact, make it up.

“There was nothing he would not do to get himself to the place where he would beat you,” said Michael Wilbon.

When Jordan returned to the NBA in 1995 – famously announcing “I’m back” in a press release and changing his number to 45 – he wasn’t quite himself. He had spent over a year training to be a baseball player, which is an entirely different style of conditioning. The Bulls made the playoffs but lost to the Orlando Magic, where Jordan’s former teammate Horace Grant had become a star. In that series, Jordan made a crucial error, getting stripped by Nick Anderson in the final minute of Game 1. Anderson said at the time, “45 isn’t 23.” Continuing a theme, Jordan was not thrilled.

“He hated the fact that Horace was on the other team when they beat him,” said Ahmad Rashad. “And just to watch all the celebrating they were doing, I think that’s what he took to heart.”

That summer, Jordan trained rigorously despite working six-day weeks to film “Space Jam.” He hosted pickup games every night on the Warner Brothers court they built for him, frequented by Reggie Miller and Dennis Rodman, among others. “I don’t know how he filmed all day and still had the energy to play three hours,” Miller said. “We would play until 9 or 10 at night, he’d still have to get weightlifting in, and his call time was at 6 or 7 in the morning. The dude was like a vampire.”

When he reconvened with the Bulls at training camp in 1995, he was “frothing at the mouth,” as Steve Kerr put it. “That’s how angry he was with losing. Every day was a war.” The entire team, other than Jordan and Scottie Pippen, was new from the Bulls’ first three-peat, and Jordan believed they felt they had certain things given to them.

“Steve [Kerr] and Luc [Longley], all those guys would come in riding high from those three championships we won in ’91, ’92, ’93, and they didn’t have anything to do with it,” Jordan said. “You don’t come in joking and kidding around, you gotta be ready to play.”

In one practice, Phil Jackson put Kerr on Jordan. Jordan started being extra-aggressive, and Jackson started calling “ticky-tack” fouls. Jordan kept going at him, and Kerr got so frustrated that he hit Jordan in the chest. Jordan responded by hitting Kerr right in the eye. Jackson threw MJ out of practice.

“I’m in the shower and I’m saying, ‘look, I just beat up the littlest guy on the court, and I feel this f–king small,’” Jordan said.

He called Kerr and the two hashed it out. “From that point on, our relationship and our trust in each other dramatically improved,” Kerr said. And Jordan’s tough-love tactics seemed to work – Chicago would go on to win 72 games that season, the greatest regular season in NBA history until the Golden State Warriors (coached by Kerr) won 73 games in 2016.

They faced the Magic again in the Eastern Conference Finals that year. “We didn’t have a chance,” Grant said. Chicago swept Orlando and faced the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA Finals, which was considered “the greatest mismatch in NBA history,” as Costas put it at the time.

The episode has one more Jordan slight to fit in. Jordan, Rashad and others were out to dinner before the series started, and Sonics coach George Karl happened to be at the same restaurant. Instead of greeting Jordan, Karl walked right by him. “That was all I needed,” Jordan said. “It became personal.”

Chicago won Game 1, then Game 2, then Game 3. “The first three games, Mike ripped us,” said Gary Payton, the Sonics’ star point guard at the time. “Ripped a hole in our ass, really.” The Sonics found their way back into the series, however, after Payton started guarding Jordan in Game 4. Seattle won two games to force Game 6 in Chicago. “A lot of people backed down to Mike. I didn’t.”

Jordan watched a video of Payton saying those lines, and started laughing. “The Glove. I had no problem with Gary Payton. I had other things on my mind.” What he was referring to was that Game 6 happened to come on Father’s Day. It was the first Finals Jordan participated in where his father wasn’t around. Fittingly, Chicago closed out the series on that day, and Jordan lay on the ground in the locker room, crying.

The episode ends going into the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. Reggie Miller:

“I feel to this day that we were the better team. A perfect storm was brewing, and in my mind, I was thinking, this is it. You’re going to retire Michael Jordan.”

Narrator voice: He did not.

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