5 things we learned from Episodes 1 and 2 of ‘The Last Dance’

1. How serious Jordan’s second-year injury really was

In a story with as many peaks and valleys as Michael Jordan’s career, what happened in his second NBA season — before he had turned the Bulls into a perennial title contender — often slips through the cracks.

The highlight — his 63-point detonation against the Boston Celtics at the Boston Garden — remains as prominent as ever, but the events leading up to that moment were truly astounding, and The Last Dance covered it all.

Three games into Jordan’s second season, the reigning Rookie of the Year suffered a clean break in his foot that was expected to sideline him for 6-12 weeks. He grew antsy on the bench and convinced the Bulls to let him return to college. Unbeknownst to the team, he started playing one-on-one, two-on-two and eventually five-on-five on his old stomping grounds. When he returned, the team noticed his muscle strength on his injured leg was even better than his other leg.

Ownership wanted to tank that season away, but Jordan was adamantly opposed to that philosophy. None of that is particularly shocking … until hearing MJ convinced management to let him play despite there being a 10 percent chance that he would re-injure himself and completely ruin his career.

“I just lost it. That’s a 10 percent chance, but that means it’s a 90 percent chance that I won’t,” Jordan said. “Everybody is thinking about the negative. I think the glass is half-full. Everybody is thinking it is half-empty.”

That’s right folks, there was a 10 percent chance Jordan could’ve turned out like Sam Bowie or Bill Walton, and hearing him and Reinsdorf describe their exchange is absolutely bonkers:

“Depends on how f**king bad the headache is” is an all-time response.

In any case, the Bulls eventually agreed to a compromise: Mike could return but only on a seven-minutes-per-half minutes limit. With a playoff spot in sight and a key game against the Indiana Pacers on deck, MJ ignited for 26 points in 28 minutes … but was furious when he reached his time limit and was benched for the final 30 seconds of a one-point game.

Luckily, John Paxson made the game-winner that helped the Bulls reach the postseason, but it was that early in Jordan’s career that his relationship with the front office soured. It’s just that most people forgot about it when he dropped 49 points and then another 63 on the Celtics in the first two games of the ensuing playoff series.