The teases for Episodes 5 and 6 of “The Last Dance” keep coming.
We already know that the third week of documentary drama will address the controversy that swirled around the Bulls in wake of the release of “The Jordan Rules” in 1991.
On Tuesday, ESPN dropped an anecdotal clue to more themes that will be hit on this Sunday:
Depicted above is the story of Michael Jordan’s last game at Madison Square Garden in a Bulls uniform on March 8, 1998. In it, he dropped 42 points on 17-for-33 shooting in a 102-89 road win that pushed the Bulls’ season record to 45-16. A clinical and classic performance from Jordan to cap off the heated Bulls-Knicks battles of the 1990s.
And notably, he put on said show in original Jordan Retro 1s, a departure from the Jordan 13s he famously sported for the entire 1997-98 season.
“By halftime, my feet are bleeding,” Jordan says in the trailer. “But I’m having a good game. I don’t want to take them off.”
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Indeed, the original Jordans would have been less suited to arduous exercise than the 13s at the time of this game. The former were released in 1985, the latter in 1997. Shoe design and technology advanced markedly, thanks in no small part to Jordan, between those years.
The flat-footed floppiness of the originals is actually noticeable in the highlight package from that game if you look closely enough (though the ESPN trailer has higher quality footage):
Jordan left it all on the Garden floor that night. Blood and all.
“I couldn’t take those shoes off fast enough,” Jordan said of his postgame experience that night. “And when I took the shoe off, my sock was soaked in blood.”
These are the classic Jordan stories we’re here for. From now until the end of time.
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