Lucas: Last Dance Rapid Reactions Night 2

By Adam Lucas

1. Episode 4 contained the key turning point in Michael Jordan as a great individual turning into Michael Jordan the greatest player and winner in basketball history. He didn't have to make that change. He could have continued to be an incredibly talented individual. But that summer of 1990, and trying to beat the Detroit Pistons, changed NBA history.

2. From a Carolina perspective, this Sunday's episodes weren't quite as satisfying as last Sunday's pair. But the final 30 minutes of episode 4, with the Bulls overcoming the Pistons, was probably the best overall 30 minutes so far. It's incredible that someone has sat on video of Jerry Krause dancing on the team plane for 30 years without letting it leak somewhere on the internet. And the fact that every Bull interviewed still retains the same hatred for Detroit that they had in 1991 shows just how deep that passion runs.

3. The Dennis Rodman experience would have been completely different in the era of social media. Part of his mystique during the era covered by the documentary was the fact that you were never quite sure what he was doing. Today we'd have people live tweeting every moment of his trips to Las Vegas.

4. Safe to say there's still some animosity between the 1991 Bulls and Pistons. It's very similar to the difference between, say, the late 1980s or early 1990s Carolina-Duke rivalry, and today's version, which is tempered--from a pure player standpoint, not a fan standpoint--by the fact that most of the players grow up playing with and against each other at various camps.

5. Reminder: three of the ten starters on the court in the 1991 NBA Finals were members of the 1982 North Carolina championship team. Even with James Worthy being hurt and having to miss a game, Sam Perkins, Worthy and Jordan still played three of the seven most minutes in that series, and had three of the six highest cumulative point totals. When you're debating which Carolina championship team is the best of them all, those are pretty strong credentials.

6. As the documentary begins to sharpen the image of Michael Jordan as a global superstar, it's a good time to remember the way that former Tar Heel assistant coach Bill Guthridge greeted Jordan one summer in Chapel Hill. By this point, it was the early 1990's and Jordan had transcended the sports world. The deadpan Guthridge said hello to Jordan with a handshake and said, "Hi, Michael. What have you been doing with yourself since graduation?"

7. Dean Smith's assessment of Jordan during Jordan's junior season at Carolina (and remember that Smith was legendarily frugal with public individual praise): "He's the prototype big guard. I can't think of a better 6-6 player, offensively or defensively, in the country. Michael continues to improve. The thing he must guard against is no one man can win basketball games. I think he's always understood that. He just has to guard against it."

8. A reminder that as Jordan's star was ascending, the Chicago Bulls played an exhibition game at the Smith Center against James Worthy and the Los Angeles Lakers in October of 1986. Over 20,000 tickets were sold in two days. Jordan's instructions to his Bulls teammates when the squad landed in North Carolina: "Fellas, this is Blue Heaven. Make sure you wipe your feet before you get off the plane." The Bulls likewise played Smith Center exhibitions before the 1989-90 season and again before the Last Dance season, an October 1997 win over the 76ers.

9. If you're suitably in the Michael Jordan mood now, we hope you'll subscribe to the Carolina Insider podcast and download tomorrow morning's episode. That podcast will feature an in-depth interview with Scott Williams, a Tar Heel basketball alum who graduated in 1990 and then played on the first three of Jordan's Bulls championship teams. In addition to some great insights about his time playing with Jordan and the Bulls' intense desire to unseat the Pistons in 1991, Williams has some terrific thoughts on Dean Smith.

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