The Last Dance: In Praise of One Lone Gold Hoop Earring

I was watching this highlight reel of Jordan's All-Star appearances yesterday. 1) It wasn't quite the hands-off shooting practice 20-25 years ago that it is today--the 2003 game-winner was very contested; 2) two or three of his most spectacular plays were feeds from Isiah Thomas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G89qHy8vcac

yeah I caught a replay of the 98 all star game last week and those dudes were balling from the opening tip

Scouting report early on for MJ was he can't dribble with his left, so force him that way. But his 1st step was so insanely quick that it didn't matter, he'd still blow by elite defenders going right.

The 2003 all star game feels like 7 years ago to me

re: mike’s handles and that first step it’s really insane, there are so many highlights where he’s got his back to the basket and there’s like 3 or 4 guys on him and all the sudden he’s at the rim

pic.twitter.com/2C1QE5TJOR

— Htims R.J. (@mike_jonsey) May 11, 2020

jordan saying he was planning on retiring before his dad died

omg, the payton video is just so violent
did i see r kelly guarding dennis on the space jam pickup court?

mj cldnt hit the breaking ball had to go back to hoop very sad

the basketball rarely curves

based on hundreds of hanes commercials, i feel comfortable saying michael is a terrible actor which makes the moment where he tears up about being considered a bad teammate kinda wow

"Way to go Craig"

MJs personal life except for his dad appears to be completely off limits. I think his kids have shown up three times? the only mention of him being married is when a team employee asks if he wants to call his wife after winning a championship and he seems kinda like "oh yeah, i guess i have to do that"

he seems to cry quite easily these days

the only mention of him being married is when a team employee asks if he wants to call his wife after winning a championship and he seems kinda like "oh yeah, i guess i have to do that"

yeah, i was like... what??

you know what else seems to be off-limits? any breakdown of his actual skills whatsoever! i would love to understand more. for instance, moves like 'the smitty' are almost invisible to the naked eye when performed in real time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpJ3RARZrzE - i would have loved to hear defenders talk about what made MJ so hard to beat.

he seems to cry quite easily these days

he really does seem to have always just finished up a real intense sob sesh

Like a thousand people have asked me about Jordan’s eyes. He’s not jaundiced. He has racial melanosis of the conjunctiva. Benign, flat patches of pigment around the edge of the cornea. Extremely common in darkly pigmented individuals, more prominent with age #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/nQjGLZNW83

— Dr. Glaucomflecken (@DGlaucomflecken) May 11, 2020

you know what else seems to be off-limits? any breakdown of his actual skills whatsoever!

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, May 11, 2020 10:26 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah wld be cool for sure, does not seem to be this doc tho

Dr. Glaucomflecken

c'mon now

i did google the condition and its a real thing fwiw

also someone can be an eye doctor and a joker too!

Dr. Glaucomflecken @DGlaucomflecken
Ophthalmologist. Comedian. Speaker. Problematic.

Tobias Fünke style !

he seems to cry quite easily these days

That cry came 45 mins into his 1st interview

after the "winning comes at a price" etc answer? it did seem odd to get choked up there idk

I'm hearing reports that Jordan is increasingly isolated

after the "winning comes at a price" etc answer? it did seem odd to get choked up there idk

― johnny crunch, Monday, May 11, 2020 bookmarkflaglink

thought the same thing

my wife commented on it too

yeah same

"Break."

The whole conspiracy theory about MJ’s dad’s murder and MJ’s gambling was so fucked up - then Andrea Kremer sitting there on camera giving it more air! girl, bye

Also the whole time I’ve been watching this, I kept thinking how MJ reminds me of Shere Khan from the Jungle Book

This scene was PURE king of the jungle shit

The best part of the Doc is watching MJ laugh at Gary Payton #LastDance

pic.twitter.com/vAFo90Aken

— Vendetta Media (@media_vendetta) May 11, 2020

anyone who believes Stern forced him out understands nothing about how things work. "let's get read of the league's meal ticket, because word that he's a gambling addict mayyyyy come out. But after 1.5 seasons he can come back". Conspiracy theories are a mental disease.

Who here believes that it was MJ's "style" as a teammate that got the Bulls their championships vs it was just his talent that pushed them over the top?

Is there an example of someone as competitive as Jordan who wasn't an asshole to his teammates? Is his competitiveness the reason he was the best of all time? He kinda seems to think so.

xpost Yeah it’s that whole thing of avoiding processing the tragedy as an act of chaos - it’s funny how the need to put concrete reasons behind the murder and have it ~make sense~ ironically allows for ideas that have little to no connection w reality

Kobe was not known for being easy to get along with...

Is there an example of someone as competitive as Jordan who wasn't an asshole to his teammates?

Giannis ??

i feel like duncan is a good example of a player with that same drive to win, same passion, different skillset and different mindset

sidebar I Loved this moment too <3

Favorite moment of the week #lastdance
Pippen calling Jordan back 😬 pic.twitter.com/FkFXMZLzxM

— Saymyname (@iamabhiramhari) May 11, 2020

i only watched him at the VERY end of his career but I believe Kareem was ultra-competitive and a good teammate

the playoff game that Pippen sat out the last play on was ultra-painful to relive. I can totally see Cartwright crying about it in the locker room.

good call on Duncan

Who here believes that it was MJ's "style" as a teammate that got the Bulls their championships vs it was just his talent that pushed them over the top?

He was a dick and it was unnecessary. There's ways to "hold your teammates to your own high standards" without being a dick, I'm sure of it.

VG, that was my favorite moment too.

scottie is super cool.

man i forgot about keith van horn

Scottie is super cool*

*except when punking out on his own team by sulking over who gets to throw the buzzer beating shot. CMON SCOTTIE

i don't fully subscribe to the jay kang 'scottie was right' theory, but...

Scottie was right. Are you kidding me. He put aside everything for 3 chips, got underpaid and they want him to inbound the ball to some rookie who doesn’t play defense?

— kang👎 (@jaycaspiankang) May 11, 2020

rmde

petty-ass gradeschool bullshit

Shouldn’t you be inbounding to guys who are good at offense

THANK YOU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB64fvG5zdw

yeah lol, i agree that it was a punk move on scottie's part, but i kinda resent the fact that this one thing is apparently the career-defining moment for him, not the decades' worth of deference and selfless play.

the huge fight in the second quarter from that clip is shrugged off as no big deal; if that happened in 2019/2020 it would've been a GARGANTUAN story
i miss scrappy ball, ron artest has a lot to answer for