Episodes 5&6 of “The Last Dance”: Don’t Challenge Michael Jordan

The poster for ESPNs The Last Dance

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The poster for ESPN’s “The Last Dance”

Adam McCaffery, Sports Editor

Episodes five and six of the Last Dance are the best of the series so far. The first four episodes were the background, but these two Kobe is in it, the dream team is discussed, and Michael Jordan is a competitive freak. 

To start off Sunday’s showing, even though it is only a few minutes, Kobe Bryant being in the documentary is awesome. Basketball fans really got to see that without Jordan, there was no Kobe Bryant. Bryant admitted it himself. But it showed the bond the two had and it made Kobe’s death even more sad. I wish Kobe could have watched the documentary himself.

The best part about these two episodes is the Dream Team. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch them live in person. That might have been the best basketball ever played and I missed out on it. The scrimmage between Jordan and Magic Johnson’s teams in practice had to be one of the most talented groups to touch the floor. The fact that such a talented group of individuals put their egos aside and played as a unit is amazing. Also, the fact that the United States were barely phased by other countries, who had populations in the hundreds of thousands to choose basketball players from, shows how great the United States and NBA basketball truly are.

Lastly, the thing I love so much about Michael Jordan is how everything is a competition to him. Golf, cards, basketball, throwing coins farther in the locker room, you name it. Michael Jordan would put money on it and raise the stakes because he loved competition so much. He loved it so much to the point where it got him in trouble. By far the best quote of both episodes is Jordan defending his gambling by saying he wasn’t addicted to gambling specifically, but to competition. 

Episodes seven and eight air this Sunday again, and because of these two previous episodes, it has made me really invested. Being as competitive as he is, I know Michael Jordan won’t let us down with the last four episodes.