ESPN's 'The Last Dance' -- ongoing discussion

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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#421 » by tihsad » Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:30 am

NaturalThunder wrote:Do you remember more details on the 1990-1991 Pistons? When watching on Sunday night, I knew/felt the documentary kinda glossed over the fact that the Pistons dropped off quite a bit in '90-'91. I know I've read about it in the past somewhere, but I couldn't remember where and remember exact details.


Thomas suffered a major wrist injury, had mid-season surgery, and per his account was never the same player (bones were fused and reduced the mobility by 40% or so). A number of the other players, Laimbeer, Edwards, Johnson, and Aguirre got old (33 was old in the 80s, same time Bird and Mchale finally succumbed to wear and tear after years of abuse in the Eastern Conference). Lastly, they really didn't have any youth outside of Dumars and Rodman having traded away, misused, or just possessing low picks post 86'. It's pretty much the same thing that happened to The Celtics (the latter of course also suffering the tragic losses of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis). All this, and of course The Bulls just got better and mentally tougher.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#422 » by rockmanslim » Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:36 am

Anybody else think the cussing seems gratuitous? Like they're trying too hard to be edgy?
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#423 » by MotownMadness » Wed Apr 29, 2020 5:27 am

Carmen Electra

“One day when the Bulls had an off day from practicing, Dennis said he had a surprise for me,” Electra told the Times. “He blindfolds me and we get on his motorcycle. When he finally takes my blindfold off, we’re standing at the Bulls practice facility, center court. It was crazy, like two kids in a candy store. We were eating Popsicles from the fridge and pretty much having sex all over the damn place—in the physical therapy room, in the weight room. Obviously on the court.”
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#424 » by Sprewell4Three » Wed Apr 29, 2020 7:20 am

C3H6N6O6 wrote:I didn't mind that the documentary didn't mention how much the Pistons had declined but they should have mentioned injuries the Lakers were dealing with. It is not like MJ didn't beat fully healthy teams in next 5 finals he won.

This is what happens when you have to take permission from the main subject of the documentary which is MJ in this case. I am sure that LeBron would do the same if he had full control of the footage shown in the documentary about him.

I would be shocked if the doc shows MJ's gambling problems off the court.


Wait, the Pistons won in 90. So how much did they fall off in one season? I don’t know why we have to spin things for the Pistons. They got demolished by the Bulls. That’s fine. The Bulls took the beating for 3 seasons. The focused Bulls we saw in 91 would beat a prime Pistons team. Pippen just had a different look to him. Played with more focus and intensity.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#425 » by Eyeamok » Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:48 pm

PistolPeteJR wrote:
Eyeamok wrote:Loved the scene from last night where Ron Haper was like you going to put Craig Ehlo on Jordan. Ok....F that BS. LOL.

It's crazy how Jordan and the Pistons still have strong animosity towards each other still to this day. A simple handshake could have gone a long way to clearing this up. Wow. And even though I love Jordan the player, not necessarily they guy off the court. He is right the Pistons beat the crap out of Chicago twice and they still stayed around and shook hands. Detroit not so much.


Apples to oranges.

The Bulls hadn’t won anything at that point. If you want to compare apples to apples, had the champion Celtics that were ousted by the Pistons stayed and shook their hands, then this would make sense.


Wait so because the Bulls had not won anything yet the Pistons were exempt from displaying sportsmanship, the way the Bulls had?
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#426 » by carrrnuttt » Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:19 pm

PistolPeteJR wrote:
Eyeamok wrote:Loved the scene from last night where Ron Haper was like you going to put Craig Ehlo on Jordan. Ok....F that BS. LOL.

It's crazy how Jordan and the Pistons still have strong animosity towards each other still to this day. A simple handshake could have gone a long way to clearing this up. Wow. And even though I love Jordan the player, not necessarily they guy off the court. He is right the Pistons beat the crap out of Chicago twice and they still stayed around and shook hands. Detroit not so much.


Apples to oranges.

The Bulls hadn’t won anything at that point. If you want to compare apples to apples, had the champion Celtics that were ousted by the Pistons stayed and shook their hands, then this would make sense.


Read on Twitter


Also, Isiah's explanation for the walk-off has changed many times: https://sports.yahoo.com/michael-jordan-isiah-thomas-pistons-bulls-walk-off-013736980.html
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#427 » by Eyeamok » Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:49 pm

carrrnuttt wrote:
PistolPeteJR wrote:
Eyeamok wrote:Loved the scene from last night where Ron Haper was like you going to put Craig Ehlo on Jordan. Ok....F that BS. LOL.

It's crazy how Jordan and the Pistons still have strong animosity towards each other still to this day. A simple handshake could have gone a long way to clearing this up. Wow. And even though I love Jordan the player, not necessarily they guy off the court. He is right the Pistons beat the crap out of Chicago twice and they still stayed around and shook hands. Detroit not so much.


Apples to oranges.

The Bulls hadn’t won anything at that point. If you want to compare apples to apples, had the champion Celtics that were ousted by the Pistons stayed and shook their hands, then this would make sense.


Read on Twitter


Also, Isiah's explanation for the walk-off has changed many times: https://sports.yahoo.com/michael-jordan-isiah-thomas-pistons-bulls-walk-off-013736980.html


So what the hell was Danny Aigne doing...he could have shook hands. Someone needs to get in touch with Malcolm Gladwell...a lot of Revisionist History going on here.
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Re: The Last Dance Premiere - Episodes 1 & 2 | April 19, 2020 9 PM EST, ESPN 

Post#428 » by NO-KG-AI » Wed Apr 29, 2020 5:16 pm

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Dominater wrote:You do realize that he attempted to take on a new challenge in a different professional sport right?


The dude's dad got murdered on the side of the **** highway too. He clearly wasn't in a great place.


At the end of the day, we won't know the real reason for Jordan leaving those two years... Gambling or personal (Dad's death), those are already better reasons that players who join/make super teams so they can win a title. Now that's NOT competitive at all.


We really do know hy he left though. There's literally no evidence that the NBA secretly suspended him or whatever. The league only suspends guys to save face anyway. If they wanted to let Michael skate, they would just not suspend him, not do it secretly, the whole premise is so stupid.

Plus, the NBA isn't chasing gamblers that heavily. Have we ever seen someone suspended for it? Do we believe no NBA player has ever bet on games? lmao.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#429 » by therealbig3 » Wed Apr 29, 2020 5:50 pm

Honest question, is this another MJ love-fest documentary, or is it a really honest look at those 98 Bulls? I’ll watch if it’s the latter, but I’m over the constant MJ deification. Not saying that we can’t appreciate his greatness, but I think you guys know what I mean.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#430 » by jc23 » Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:24 pm

I feel as if there was a sour feeling towards Phil by this generations players. Primarily due to his relationship with Melo and his comment about lebron's friends. I think this doc is shedding a better light on who Phil is to this younger generation.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#431 » by lazybatman » Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:28 pm

Sprewell4Three wrote:
lazybatman wrote:
13th Man wrote:
I've always hated Isiah Thomas. I remember when he clotheslined Magic Johnson in one game, that was the last straw for me. It's no wonder that nobody wanted him on the Olympic team.

I really hated the Bad Boys as well, except for Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson.


Just Mike and Scottie didn't want him on the team, cos they got their asses handed to them, not in a pleasant way, for a long time till they figured it out. Mike's constant trash talking including to his team mates and wasn't exactly pleasant either. The hand shakes BS is just an easy layup opportunity for slamming the Pistons, like Lebron and his posse slam dunked Phil Jackson a couple of years back.

I like him. Easily a top 3 ever PG(Magic,Isiah,Steph) and MJ wouldn't have this legacy without the Bad Boys. Then there would be arguments like Lebron had to live with all time dynastic teams like the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics and Warriors. MJ had it easy, as the Magic-Kareem-Bird era was coming to close when he started winning.


I really hate how you guys spin things. Lebron lost to an old Dirk and Tim Duncan. Ok fine remove the 2 finals against the KD Warriors. Lebron is still 3 - 4 in the finals. 2 of those losses came on the hands of an aging Dirk and Tim Duncan. I could keep going, Lebron didn’t start winning until the Celtics got old. But see how stupid these arguments are? At the end of the day, a great all time player will eventually win a championship.
Respectfully, it's not a spin. I still believe MJ is the GOAT, but to disrespect Lebron, cos of hazy fond memories of MJ, after the career he's had so far is not fair. He's easily no. 2/3 on the list with Kareem.

1 of those finals was where he dragged the 2007 Cavs to the finals, where not one other person in that entire organization belonged. Not one other player / coach on that team would get on a starting 5 of a championship winning team.

1 of those finals where D-Wade got injured and Lebron got cramped out of the final 5 minutes of the game cos of the air conditioning, and an old yet extremely effective Tim Duncan was with 3 1st ballot hall of farmers and coached by the greatest coach of all time at his absolute peak.

1 finals where Kyrie and K-Love got injured, and he still won 2 over the Warriors all on his own, which I believe was a better finals performance than Mike's 49&63 pt games against the Celtics.

Mike couldn't get past the second round without Scottie.

For further context, look at the difference in the front office and coaching the two have had over their careers and the 2016 comeback against the Warriors. Jerry Kraus, despite being the a*sshole he later turned out to be, save MJ from ending up like a Allen Iverson/Tracey McGrady with the trades and drafts and coaching changes he made at the right time. Imagine if present day MJ/Jim Dolan/Dan Gilbert drafted him back in the 80s.

Lebron didn't have a player as good as Scottie, on both ends of the court, and the best rebounder in the game for 8 years. A fit D-Wade for 3 years is as far as it got.

They're different kinda players, one pure scorer and one pass first guy who still averages only 3 pts less at a marginally better clip, so Lebron's not gonna have as many 50 pt games as Kobe/MJ, but they don't have the triple doubles to match him either.

Lebron's bigger, stronger and faster, but not as skilled as Mike. He would probably hurt some of the bad boys, physically and mentally, with the 80s rules. And they couldn't have applied 'Jordan rules' on him cos he knew how to pass when was 19. MJ would easily average 50 ppg in 30 minutes in the Warriors era, if Harden can do 37.

The loss to Dirk is the big differentiator which eliminates Lebron from Mike's class.



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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#432 » by dhsilv2 » Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:06 pm

So far I've learned...

MJ was a bit of a car collector. Not sure that there's really been much new otherwise.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#433 » by bakafool » Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:44 pm

therealbig3 wrote:Honest question, is this another MJ love-fest documentary, or is it a really honest look at those 98 Bulls? I’ll watch if it’s the latter, but I’m over the constant MJ deification. Not saying that we can’t appreciate his greatness, but I think you guys know what I mean.

Ep 3 was more focused on Rodman, so that might be bearable for you.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#434 » by Chanel Bomber » Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:08 am

Two notes:

- I really respect how the series has been directed but I can't believe they didn't insert the famous shot of Laimbeer and Isiah looking through the camera in the hallway. That shot is the most intimidating and one of the most powerful shots in NBA history. If you want to emphasize how for real the bad boys were, just insert that image. The look in their eyes just speaks for itself.

- I loved the music they used when they show the Bulls winning their first chip in LA. It's exhilarating.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#435 » by LKN » Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:09 am

dhsilv2 wrote:So far I've learned...

MJ was a bit of a car collector. Not sure that there's really been much new otherwise.


Just wait for this Sunday. I've seem through ep 8. Let's just say I'm surprised MJ approved some of the content in eps 5 and 6
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#436 » by LKN » Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:10 am

therealbig3 wrote:Honest question, is this another MJ love-fest documentary, or is it a really honest look at those 98 Bulls? I’ll watch if it’s the latter, but I’m over the constant MJ deification. Not saying that we can’t appreciate his greatness, but I think you guys know what I mean.


Tune in this weekend - you might hear about gambling - in quite a bit of detail.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#437 » by Chanel Bomber » Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:21 am

therealbig3 wrote:Honest question, is this another MJ love-fest documentary, or is it a really honest look at those 98 Bulls? I’ll watch if it’s the latter, but I’m over the constant MJ deification. Not saying that we can’t appreciate his greatness, but I think you guys know what I mean.

Well, MJ is the greatest basketball player of all-time. He was also the coolest, and a very smart individual.

So of course the documentary will reflect that. I'm not sure why you'd be so afraid of that. He's one of the most iconic people in modern history, across fields, and he didn't stain his legacy like the other MJ. I'm not sure what kind of dirt you're looking for to make it fair, in all honesty.

So far we've seen MJ be a d*** to Krause, and be tough on his teammates, but it hasn't gone much further than that so far. They didn't say it loudly but they implied that he had to learn to trust his teammates. I think the latest episode hinted at the gambling, which we will probably see more of. I think we'll see more of MJ being tougher on his teammates in the next episodes. I do find the criticism of Krause a little extreme, but in fairness they did insert clips of him to give him a voice. He's just not there to defend himself.

Honestly, you owe it to yourself as a basketball fan to watch it. It's well-directed so far, with a Christopher Nolanesque timeline that breaks the linear monotony of most sports documentaries, there's some insane footage, and you can see and feel things in a way that you never did before. The documentary goes back in time and tells the tale of the main characters to provide context for the 97-98 season. Which is why you need to watch.

The last part of the Doug Collins interview was incredible for example. It made me feel uncomfortable.

And that sequence of Craig Sager in the hallway reflects quite poorly on him to be honest, but it's real footage, so you can't refute what your eyes see.

Just relax and watch it man. Don't overthink this.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#438 » by NO-KG-AI » Thu Apr 30, 2020 1:37 am

KRause was determined to break up a team that hadn't lost yet... who does that? The greatest player of all time says he'll continue to play, if you keep one ofthe GOAT coaches on board... oh, and the sidekick is on board if he gets paid fairly.

Oh also, they've won 5 championships together, including the last two. Don't you think they should at least have a fair shot at losing it before you run the coach and the players out??

**** Jerry Krause, he put his own wants above winning titles for the organization/fans and above the players and coaches who made him a household name. Go play video games if you want to trade away a dynasty before its run has even come to an end.
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Re: The Last Dance, Ep.3&4 airs on ESPN Sunday, April 26, at 9PM ET 

Post#439 » by dhsilv2 » Thu Apr 30, 2020 3:09 am

LKN wrote:
dhsilv2 wrote:So far I've learned...

MJ was a bit of a car collector. Not sure that there's really been much new otherwise.


Just wait for this Sunday. I've seem through ep 8. Let's just say I'm surprised MJ approved some of the content in eps 5 and 6


Thanks, hadn't thought to see if I could go ahead and see more episodes. Got 5-8 downloading now.
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Re: The Last Dance Premiere - Episodes 1 & 2 | April 19, 2020 9 PM EST, ESPN 

Post#440 » by durden_tyler » Thu Apr 30, 2020 3:35 am

The Rodzilla wrote:why are people acting like scottie pippens contract finally expiring in 1998 was not the reason why that season was the last dance?

they made up complete nonsense like Krause wanted to disband the team because of personal reasons lol

they should have properly explained the pippen contract situation, that pippen for years was counting down the days until he gets his proper payment and his thinking was that he was going to leave the bulls unless they had an excellent performance in the contract negotiation

so in the 1997 off season they decided to not go for pippen long term and so Jackson then Jordan only signed on for that year, pippen then decided to punish the bulls and limit his risk by taking his surgery before the start of the season then demanding a trade

Pippen was the reason it was over, Jordan didn't want any part of playing without him again because people would notice the difference

funniest part was jordans comments looking back on pippens antics at that time, saying he was trying to get the owner to change his contract and it wasn't going to happen, excuse me but coming into the last year of your deal seems like the perfect time to get the new contract


Nah, even without Pippen, Jordan would have found similar success.
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