The Last Dance episodes 1 and 2: Plot summary and reactions

After weeks of anticipation, the first two episodes of “The Last Dance” premiered on ESPN this weekend. Here’s a quick recap and reactions to what we learned about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in Episodes 1 and 2.

The Last Dance is finally here, weeks ahead of its scheduled release and 22 years after Michael Jordan won his final championship with the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls. That season, the Bulls granted unprecedented locker room access to a film crew in the hopes of creating an intimate sports documentary on perhaps the greatest NBA dynasty of all time.

Until 2016, the project never got off the ground for multiple reasons, most of which revolved around Jordan owning the rights to all the content. But now that it’s finally seeing the light of day, Episodes 1 and 2 have already set the bar incredibly high for people’s expectations.

In a quarantined world without sports, The Last Dance is must-see television, and it’s what everyone’s going to be talking about for the next five weeks as new episodes are unveiled. In case you missed Episodes 1 and 2, or in case you just want to relive what happened, here’s the recap and reactions for the first two parts of this 10-part docuseries.

Episode 1

People forget this, but the 1997-98 season was quite a tumultuous one for the Bulls. Not only were they dealing with the pressure and fatigue that comes with going for a three-peat, but it was their second three-peat try of the decade. Scottie Pippen was on incredibly bad terms with general manager Jerry Krause, and both Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan faced uncertain futures with the team.

Doubt about the Bulls’ future even permeated into post-game media questions as they celebrated their victory in the 1997 NBA Finals, to which Jordan openly wondered why they would rebuild when the team was winning. “Cubs have been rebuilding for 42 years,” he joked.

Unfortunately, Krause thought differently, and according to Jackson, told the Bulls head coach: “I don’t care if you win 82 games in a row, this is going to be your last year here.”

The docuseries spends some time in Paris for an exhibition trip for the Bulls before flashing back to what the team looked like before Jordan was drafted in 1984, back when a Chicago Sting indoor soccer team was drawing more fans. Jordan credited his big shot in the NCAA championship with giving him the confidence to excel in basketball, while his UNC teammate, the great James Worthy, gave us this gem: “I was better than he was … for about two weeks.”

It was coach Dean Smith that recommended Jordan go pro, and based on assistant coach Roy Williams’ description of MJ, it makes sense: “Michael Jordan’s the only player that could ever turn it on and off … and he never freakin’ turned it off.”

Jordan’s first year in the league was an adjustment off the court, since drugs and cocaine were running rampant through the league during that time. Mike was just a kid from North Carolina whose go-to drink was orange juice and 7UP. The Bulls were apparently a “traveling cocaine circus,” and Jordan told a story about seeing things he’d never seen as a kid when practically the entire team partied in a hotel room in Peoria.

“You got your lines over here, you got your weed smokers over here, you got your women over here,” he described. “From that point on, I was more or less on my own.”

On the court though, it didn’t take long for Jordan to assert himself as a man among boys. Within a two-week period, everyone knew he was the best player the Bulls had, one who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, won Rookie of the Year and was called “poetry in motion.”

Flash forward to October 1997, and the status quo for the Bulls is annihilating everyone. Jackson liked to have a theme for each season, and for 1997-98, he leaned all the way into it: The theme was going to be “The Last Dance.”

Episode 1 ends in fitting fashion: With Chicago fans booing GM Jerry Krause at the ring ceremony, cheering Phil Jackson and the always chilling player introductions that the Bulls did better than anyone in the ’90s.

Episode 2

While Episode 1 set the stage for The Last Dance, Episode 2 hones in on one of its most important secondary characters, Scottie Pippen. Despite having only the sixth-highest salary on the team and the 122nd-highest salary in the league, the Robin to Jordan’s Batman ranks very high on the Bulls list of all-time leaders:

• 2nd in scoring in franchise history
• 2nd in minutes
• 3rd in rebounds
• 2nd in assists
• 2nd in steals

In MJ’s own words, “Whenever they speak Michael Jordan, they should speak Scottie Pippen.”

Few expected this from a kid who grew up idolizing Julius Erving in Arkansas, but the Central Arkansas standout became a linchpin on perhaps the greatest NBA dynasty ever. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really treated like it, and Pippen’s decision to take a longer contract (seven years, but only $18 million) instead of a more lucrative one — a decision stemming from his desire to provide for his family — came back to bite him as he became one of the best players in the NBA and the salary cap changed.

Pippen deserved and needed to be paid heading into that 1997-98 campaign, but the lack of a new deal and the constant trade rumors swirling around him led to Scottie neglecting to take care of foot surgery until just before the new season began, sidelining the Bulls’ second-best player until January.

“Scottie was wrong in that scenario,” Jordan said. “What Scottie was trying to do was trying to force management to change his contract. And Jerry wasn’t gonna do that.”

Chicago got off to a rough 8-7 start, and each loss felt amplified, but then, as expected, Jordan took things to another level.

“Every time I step on that basketball court my focus is to win the game,” he said. “It drives me insane when I can’t.”

That innate competitiveness started when he was a kid, which prompted the first of several flashbacks to provide a better idea of what drove MJ’s competitive fire to such dizzying lengths. Growing up in North Carolina, he would always compete with his brother. He wasn’t as good, but that desire to beat his brother was the foundation of his competitive fire.

“If you want to bring out the best in Michael, tell him he can’t do something, or he can’t do it as good as somebody else,” his late father described.

Flashing forward to Jordan’s second season in the NBA, he was out indefinitely with a clean break in his foot just three games in. He was itching to do something as he recuperated, so he convinced the Bulls to let him go back to college. Without their knowledge, he played one-on-one, two-on-two and eventually five-on-five there, and when he returned, the team noticed his improved muscle strength in the calf of his injured leg.

Ownership wanted to tank that season, but Jordan returned to action before it was over … on a severe, seven-minutes-per-half minutes limit. His relationship with the front office soured at that point, since he was extremely against tanking and it nearly cost them a spot in the postseason as he was benched late in a winnable game against the Indiana Pacers.

Hearing him describe that exchange with owner Jerry Reinsdorf about returning to play is vintage MJ:

It’s fortunate for all of us that he did, and that he never re-injured himself, since the 1986 NBA Playoffs are where his legendary 63-point playoff performance against the Boston Celtics occurred.

“That wasn’t Michael Jordan, that was God disguised as Michael Jordan,” Larry Bird famously said afterward.

At that point, the focus shifts back to Krause, whose job was to assemble a team that fit around Jordan. Flashing ahead to 1997, the Bulls did look into trading Pippen, but ownership said no, because as long as Jordan was there, owner Jerry Reinsdorf wanted to go for ring No. 6.

The episode ends with a bit of a cliffhanger as Pippen crosses the line, berating Krause in front of the team, publicly demanding a trade and saying, “I’m never gonna play for the Bulls again.”

Episodes 3 and 4 of The Last Dance will premiere on ESPN next Sunday.