Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Revisiting Two Last Dances
Good Morning to my loyal readers. How are we feeling today? I think you’re going to enjoy this one.
Firstly — the interview with the man who beat MJ in ping pong has been postponed due to scheduling conflicts. We’ll get to that either next week or the week after.
Secondly — The Last Dance review comes second this week. We’ll start by revisiting the most recent last dance for Bulls fans.
Before we get going, you know the drill. Send this in a group chat today or an email thread and get a few people to subscribe. I’d appreciate the support.
Also, there’s a lot to react to on this one. Some of you may even get emotional. Hit the comments so we can discuss afterward.
The last Last Dance
The last time there was a Last Dance in Chicago was 2015. The Bulls were up 2-1 on the Cleveland Cavaliers after a May 8th buzzer-beater winner from Derrick Rose in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Despite the teachings of John Paxson’s 4th grade social studies teacher, who surely taught him the importance of not letting bad history repeat itself, he was ushering in a new coach from Iowa State and was holding the exit door open for the best Bulls coach of the century.
It was Paxson who, 25 years earlier, had wondered how a front office could be so inept, why a team so good would have so many issues between the coach, general manager, and the players. It was he who wondered why the suits did not respect the people, like him, who had been loyal and helped the franchise, yet received almost nothing in return.
Paxson’s amnesia translated to Tom Thibodeau coaching in a lame duck year. All of Chicago knew he would probably not be returning, though we hoped that a championship run may force the front office to second guess themselves, something they never did, but should’ve done before nearly every decision they made.
The lame-duck nature of those playoffs certainly wasn’t helping from a basketball standpoint. There was a sense of uncertainty, that last-hoorah kind — akin to the ‘98 season — but without the five championships preceding it. The lack of championships made it even more of an anxiety-ridden run. The 2010s Bulls had gone to the Eastern Conference Finals just once, their quest for championships feeling a lot like those claw machines that were in every breakfast place you went to as a child. Those championships kept finding a way out of our grasp at the last second.
Many fans look back at the 2010s Bulls and think 2011 was our best shot. Or, maybe 2012 — when the Bulls were the best team in the league and had it taken away from them when Rose went down with his first ACL injury. And those teams may have been better from October through the spring. But this ‘14-’15 team, they were better suited to win a championship.
This Bulls team was just 50-32 in the regular season, a far worse winning percentage than those earlier teams. But they were without Rose for 31 games, something that the 2010-2012 versions of the team did not have to manage. Rose was healthy for the playoffs in 2015, though. The Bulls record that year, when Rose played at least 20 minutes in the game, was 32-16. Without him, they were 18-16.
So, with Rose healthy, they were one of the best teams in the league, and arguably the best team in the East — considering the 1 seed that year was the 60-win Hawks, who were done away in four games after the Cavs got past the Bulls.
But the reason they were better suited to win was because Rose was not solely shouldering the load. They still had the lifeblood of those earlier teams: Rose and Joakim Noah. They had replaced Kyle Korver with Mike Dunleavy. But now, they had Jimmy Butler entering his prime and Pau Gasol, who many forget was a two-time All-Star in Chicago.
The Bulls had also added Nikola Mirotic, who — for all of his warts — was a great option off the bench.
Gasol turned in 18.5 PPG and 11.8 RPG that season in 78 games played, perhaps the most consistent producer for the team, seeing as though Rose and Butler only played 51 and 65 games, respectively.
On the list of reasons for why that series went haywire and why the Cavs pulled out Game 4 in the United Center, Gasol’s Game 3 hamstring injury is in the top 2. David Blatt calling a timeout with no timeouts available — what should be a technical foul — is largely remembered as the biggest reason. It’s not one or two, but we’ll get back to that later.
Gasol was a real offensive threat and also a more-than-capable rebounder for the Bulls. When he hurt his hamstring in Game 3, the Bulls were never the same. After turning in a 21 point, 10 rebound night in a Bulls Game 1 victory, his performance went down with his bad hamstring. After Game 2, Gasol never reached double digits in points or rebounds again in the series, two marks he reached on average in the regular season. He also completely missed Game 4 and Game 5, forcing an early comeback for the Cavs series clincher in Game 6.
Jimmy Butler had come into his own that season, earning his first All-Star appearance, and looking as if he had been built in a lab to defend LeBron James. James’ performance in Game 4 is forgotten because of his game winner (more on this later), but he had a dreadful game — by his standards — before hand. He shot just above 30% from the field and had committed 8 turnovers before the game winner.
The reality is, James had been terrible through the first four games. He was shooting 10% from three on nearly 5 attempts per game. He was shooting 37% from the field, 13 percentage points below his career average. He was averaging nearly 6 turnovers per contest.
Butler had neutralized James to the point where media members were wondering if James was hurting his team by forcing the issue too much. He was woefully ineffective, and Butler was averaging nearly 20 points himself in the series, further taking the burden off of Rose.
The Bulls had the formula to beat the Cavs. For a series of reasons, most of them forgotten, they didn’t.
Iman Shumpert had never made a jumper his entire career, at least it felt that way. I know because I cheered hard for him to do so. He went to my high school, and therefore served as a good college bragging point, despite his success having nothing to do with me. Because sports have a cruel way of stabbing you in the ribs with irony, Shumpert found his jump shot in the Eastern Conference Semifinals!
He turned three of his best efforts in the playoffs against the Bulls, covering up some of LeBron’s shooting troubles. That didn’t help.
Gasol’s injury killed the Bulls, and Tristian Thompson, if you remember, also had his coming out party — cleaning up the boards and earning himself an absurd contract that he’d never live up to again. Just our luck.
Now let’s return to the end of Game 4.
Derrick Rose drives and scores to tie the game at 84 with 8.4 seconds left.
This is when the Cavs Head Coach David Blatt attempted to call timeout, despite not having one. Then-assistant Tyronn Lue noticed the error and quickly tried to subdue Blatt, and refs never punished the Cavs for it. If they had, the Bulls would’ve gotten a free throw and the ball.
That year, they had eight players who shot at least 80% from the line. The game would’ve been over and the Bulls would have been up 3-1 against a team with no confidence and a struggling superstar.
But that’s not the worst of what happened in those final 8 seconds. After all, if the refs didn’t see it — although I believe they did — there’s nothing you can do. And it would’ve been a cheap way to win the game anyway.
LeBron, without the timeout that Blatt tried to call, drove down the entire court (while pushing off) to attempt a lay up. He’s cleanly blocked. He spends the next 5 seconds throwing a confusing temper tantrum about no foul being called, when if a foul had been called, it should’ve been on him.
The block being clean meant the ball was clearly out on the Bulls. It was very obvious. A no doubter. Cavs ball, 1.4 seconds left. The chances of them scoring in 1.4 seconds without time to set up a play are slim to none, right? Correct. The issue is that the refs, for a reason that still has not been explained, spent multiple minutes discussing who to give the ball to and reviewing the tape. When they came to the obvious answer, the Cavs — who again, had no timeouts — had spent 2 minutes scratching one play and drawing up another.
(Update: A reader has informed me that he believes that Thibodeau asked for the review.)
Then LeBron James hit a game winner, turning both his and the Cavs’ momentum completely back into their favor.
The Bulls had outplayed the Cavs that day. They deserved to win. Two grave mistakes by the referees in the last eight seconds stole it, and the series, from them.
Is it a sure thing the Bulls would’ve won in overtime? Of course not. But an overtime would’ve meant James probably missed a shot or didn’t get a chance at one. The Bulls, then, would’ve had 1. momentum 2. home court 3. the better coach 4. and at the time, a better team heading into overtime.
The Bulls, and us fans, never got the chance to see that play out.
If the Bulls win that game, they undoubtedly win the series. After the way they lost Game 4, I think it’s more than fair to say morale was crushed, particularly because of the above-mentioned lameduck-ness vibe of the year.
They never got back what they lost in those last eight seconds.
And if the Bulls win that series, they win the Eastern Conference Finals. They would’ve had the Hawks, who proved themselves fraudulent after losing four straight to the Cavs.
That puts the Bulls in a Finals against the Warriors with the wind at their back. The Warriors last home loss that year? It was to the Bulls in late January, as they fell victim to a Derrick Rose game winner.
The Cavs pushed that series to 6, and they were without Kyrie Irving.
If the Bulls had made the Finals, anything could’ve happened. Either way, the Bulls faithful would’ve had a chance to let themselves be heard in the final series again. If they had made it that far, who knows how we’d be looking back at those teams now.
Those last 8 seconds and that series let another Finals chance slip away from our beloved 2010s Bulls, like that claw trying to catch prizes in the breakfast restaurants.
Like those claws, the game seems unfair in retrospect.
It’s something I still have a hard time grappling with, especially because LeBron’s game winner is often void of context when presented. Bulls fans, luckier than I, have also forgotten some of the more cruel details of that series, which I have reminded of you above.
It wasn’t just the Blatt timeout.
When I was notified of the anniversary this weekend by a Bleacher Report article published by friend of the newsletter Will Gottlieb, all those memories resurfaced. As I went to share his article on Twitter, I thought of what to say.
“One of the worst days of my life,” I considered writing. Then, contemplating how incredibly tone deaf that sounded, I edited my message.
Sports have a way of exposing just how privileged we are. Of course, the day of that infamous Game 4 is not one of the worst days of my life.
But looking back at it five years later, now knowing now what lies ahead, it damn sure feels like one.
The Last Dance
Episodes 7 and 8 of The Last Dance both ended with Michael Jordan crying. One of the most fierce, competitive, no-nonsense men on the planet was presented to us in tears on two separate occasions.
Crying comes with a stigma, right? Lots of people are against the general idea of it for some reason. I certainly don’t feel that way. But watching MJ cry sends me to another goddamn planet.
There’s obviously people who cry at episodes of their favorite sitcom, when their dog gets excited to see them, and every time someone doesn’t respond to one of their texts. In that context, it’s basically on the same emotion scale as laughter.
But when Michael Jordan cries, it feels like a moment.
Watching him cry as he described his mentality playing basketball is one of the greatest cinematic viewing experiences I’ve ever had.
To have given your all to something, and to have been so dedicated that recalling your mindset could bring you to tears, is awe-inspiring. I feel genuinely lucky that this documentary has given me access to this side of Jordan. We’ve all read the legends and heard second hand about the crucial moments in his basketball life. But watching him break down and then say ‘break’ to the director — that was some next-level shit.
I don’t cry very often, it’s not because I don’t like to or because I have something against it. In fact, I remember that shit feeling pretty awesome as a kid. Remember just bawling your eyes out and then feeling like you did drugs or something afterward? It’s a great feeling, man.
But even I admittedly stopped for a second and thought, ‘this man kind of cries a lot’ during last night’s episodes.
Then I realized that my life is not nearly as intense or significant enough to be crying in the way MJ does. That’s both a blessing and a curse — both for him and I. He reached levels of fame, intensity, and success that none of are likely to reach. Watching him break down in these moments is a testament to that.
Those episodes, in my mind, were the two best yet.
We’ll start with the conspiracies. I find conspiracies fun to chat about in general. I do think things get a bit iffy, because you never know if you’re perpetuating the problem by discussing them at all — in a way, that gives credence to them.
That being said, the way people are just able to to say MJ somehow was tied to his father’s murder has always been astounding to me. And sure, I won’t hold it against my friends if they’ve been led to believe that and find it an interesting talking point. The fact of the matter is, however, that saying that without any evidence whatsoever is deeply immoral.
It doesn’t matter that he’s Michael Jordan. It doesn’t matter that he was once one of the three most famous people in the world. The Golden Rule still applies, ladies and gentlemen. And suggesting that someone contributed to a family member’s death when you have no reason to do so is fucked up — ain’t no way around that.
For years, every media outlet sent their best reporters sniffing around to find out if MJ did have something to do with it and/or to find out if he had been suspended from the NBA.
You know what they found? Nada, zip, zilch.
If one of the two were true, you’d have heard about it my now. People don’t keep their mouths shut for that long, and a reporter would’ve found a connection by now.
Truthfully, even though neither has any base in evidence, I find the latter — that MJ was forced to retire from the NBA — even more ludicrous.
You think that the commissioner of the NBA forced the sole reason for the NBA’s meteoric success out of the game? Because of gambling problems?
If you’re going to present me with a conspiracy theory, the first question I’ll ask you is always this: Who benefited? In other words, why did the scenario you’re presenting to me happen?
For instance, the frozen envelope. That’s the conspiracy that says an envelope with the Knicks name in it was refrigerated in the NBA Draft Lottery so David Stern could give the New York Knicks the first pick and allow them to draft Patrick Ewing.
I’m not sure that’s true, but at least it makes sense. That puts a surefire star in the biggest market the NBA has to offer.
Suspending MJ makes no sense — not from any perspective.
It also doesn’t make sense because — and they did a good job of documenting part of this in the doc — MJ had hinted at retiring sooner rather than later as early as 1990. It’s literally in “The Jordan Rules”. He had told plenty of people that he wanted to try his hand at baseball, but more than anything, that he was growing sick of his position as the preeminent star in major sports, and that he wanted a break — long before his father had passed or he got “caught” gambling on golf courses or in Atlantic City.
To be emotionally drained from people following and cataloging your every move for ten years, and then to have your father murdered, and then to have people suggest you 1. played a part in that and 2. were only stepping away from the game because you were forced to … that’s tough.
He’s a stronger man than I am. Because I may have punched more than just Steve Kerr and Will Perdue if I had to read a columnist speaking on my life that had no idea what he was talking about.
In terms of baseball — anyone that makes fun of Jordan’s baseball career either hasn’t done enough research on the topic or is actively rooting against him as a person. The man didn’t play baseball for over a decade, stepped right into AA, and hit .202. Then he competed in one of the most competitive fall leagues and hit .252, and became boys with Derek Jeter along the way.
The baseball portion of MJ’s career was both more impressive and more necessary than most people have given it credit for. And for anyone who suggests that he was somehow devaluing baseball because of it… if devaluing baseball entails working your ass off to get better everyday and riding the bus — one he purchased — with your AA teammates everyday, then I guess you’re right.
The reality is that every story degrading MJ for his baseball days was exactly as he put it. People were tired of him being on top, so they had to try to knock him down.
There’s plenty to knock MJ about. His baseball career ain’t one of them. Nor is his father’s death.
Now, I’ll listen if you want to criticize him calling Scott Burrell a ho repeatedly. But, I don’t think I’ll agree with you. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing footage of him talking shit in the flesh.
(By the way, Scott Burrell himself was drafted in the 1990 MLB Draft. He was the first athlete ever to be drafted in the first round in two major sports — to the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Blue Jays.)
MJ saying he tried to get Scott Burrell to fight him … in a good sense… is some funny ass shit. I tried to get this guy to get so mad at me that he would want to physically hurt me… in a good sense.
The vast majority of MJ’s teammates, as you saw, look back fondly on MJ’s intensity on the floor. He made a lot of people a lot of money, even when he — as Reinsdorf admitted — wasn’t even making much money from playing basketball himself. Oh, and he gave this city six championships, winning the last game in nearly half of the seasons he played.
In this case, the results justify the means.
Get on his level or get the hell out of the way. And if you still don’t understand that line of thinking, you probably never won anything — as he put it.
And you know what? He’s probably right. Winning and leadership, as he said, has a price. If you don’t understand it, it’s probably because you don’t exist in the same world as him, or even a neighboring one. No duh you don’t understand it.
God damn, these episodes keep getting better and better. I can’t believe this is all over next week.
Argue with me or put your favorite moment from last night’s episodes in today’s comments. Let’s get it going:
This made me laugh
This article from ESPN made me laugh out loud the other week.
Phil Jackson is still offering his time up to NBA head coaches from his Montana haven. One of the coaches who reached out to him? Yup, you got that right — Jimmy Boylen.
The fact that those two men have held the same position is beyond comprehension.
But in the article it says that Boylen asked Jackson if he could watch some of the Bulls games this season and present feedback. Jackson obliged.
Imagining Phil Jackson watching this on his television in Montana has me cackling.
“Phil you watch the game tonight?”
“Jim —
Unfortunately, yes.”
New day, new proposal
Ken Rosenthal reported in The Athletic that a new MLB season has been proposed. The structure is different than last week’s proposal, but the Sox and Cubs would still be playing more often, because teams would primarily be playing their own divisions and the coinciding one in the other league.
So, the Cubs would play the NL Central and the AL Central. And the Sox would do the same.
The season would be around 80 games, with each team playing their own division’s teams in three four-game series and the opposite division’s teams in two three-game series.
It would begin in early July and there would be an expanded playoff format. The games would be played in home stadiums but would be without fans — at least at first.
Give me any baseball at this point. Whatever plan you got, I’ll take it.
Bear Down
The Bears schedule was released and the most asinine practice in sports media has taken place once again.
Predicting a team’s record based on their schedule.
One could reasonably look at last year’s schedule and think, ‘Oh, boy, this is going to be a tough one.’ And you would’ve been correct. But that’s a rare instance.
Otherwise, the only thing you should take from schedule releases is that the NFL is playing a goddamn season, come hell or high water. This, I appreciate. The other thing it’s good for is sending that text to your buddies assuring them that this is the year you’re finally taking the trek up to Lambeau together.
The other big news in Bears world this weekend was Deshaun Watson claiming that the Bears never spoke to him before the 2017 Draft. Now, it’s been documented that both 1. The Bears, in some way, shape, or form, did speak with him and 2. They did not have him ranked even close to Trubisky on their board.
A few thoughts on this:
I don’t think Watson is lying, I think that what he meant is that the Bears did not seriously talk to him in a way that teams like the Texans did. Most teams that have a pick in the early first round at least meet, in some way, with all the top players. Either way, it’s embarrassing. But there’s no need to rehash that.
I also believe some revisionist history is taking hold again. Remember, the Bears were far from the only team that had Trubisky as the best QB. And every site that laughs at the pick now had Trubisky, at least, in the top three. We can make fun of the pick now with the information we have, but let’s not act as if Pace drafted some no-name at no. 2 overall.
Watson desperately did want to go to the Bears, and Jordan Palmer — his QB coach heading into the draft — vied for the Bears to take him, repeatedly. If you want to get mad at any report, get mad at that one, which is verifiable.
Thank you for reading Still Gotta Come Through Chicago, as always. Thank you for telling your friends, as always. Thank you for commenting, as always. Next week will be the best one yet, as always.
Everyone have a great week — see you after the finale.
Still Gotta Come Through Chicago!
Hot take alert: The Bulls were a better team without MJ. I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out. LOL JK. These 2 episodes defiantly stood out from the others for all the reasons that you mentioned. But man, going back to my comments from this thread a few weeks ago, Scottie Pippen has really rubbed me the wrong way. He's a clown. He gave up on his team and decided to sit out when he was told he wasn't going to be taking the final shout. Cowardly move. But here's what really ticked me off. The players made it a point to say that this was really out of character for SP. and once I heard that he apologized to the team after the game I was ready to feel a little bit better about him. That was until he said that if he could go back HE WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING. Basically confirming that him doing that wasn't out of character at all and he is, in fact, a whiny self centered douche that is all about himself. Are you kidding me, SP? 25 years later he finally has the chance to make things right and he goes on to make it clear that he stills feels like that was the right thing to do. I mean, is he even SGCTC certified?
I think that 2015 Bulls team was the last time I was really into them, and if they won game 4 who knows maybe I would be as big of a fan as you right now! With AK-47 now in the drivers seat I will 100% be tuning in to most games like I did that year.
Those 2 episodes last night were definitely the best ones. Jordan finding any excuse to come at someone is my favorite thing ever. Oh he didn't say hi to me at dinner? He's fucked tomorrow. You celebrated after having a good game? I'm gonna have to bury you the rest of the series. I just can't imagine Lebron having that mentality or even talking like that.