The Last Dance
With the Corona virus having an effect on all major sporting events across the globe, one team has managed to reunite a major group of sports fans and rekindle interest in basketball. The 1990’s Chicago Bulls
The reason for this sudden interest is the premiere of the documentary The Last Dance.It sheds light on The Bulls record breaking 6 championships in the span of 8 years. The team which was coached by Phil Jackson was probably the best balanced team that the NBA has ever seen.
The Chicago Bulls at that point had what no team had, Micheal Jordan. Standing at 6'6, Micheal Jordan had dribbling, shooting and most of all a drive to win. He averaged 30 points per game and he’d keep on scoring. Jordan just wasn’t an attacking player, he would cover the whole court and try to win the ball in every scenario. He was also named best defensive player in the league one time.
Backling Jordan’s amazing ability were two players who possessed incredible skill sets as well. Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. While Pippen was Jordan’s number two, assisting him the most and getting his rebounds, Rodman was the defensive backbone of the team.
What really gave the team that special nudge was Phil Jackson. As a coach he was instrumental in developing tactics that would allow different styles of play in the team to complement each other. He just allowed players to be how they wanted to be and found a way to work around it.
One of the occasions when Bulls were nearing playoffs, Phil Jackson allowed Dennis Rodman to go to Vegas for 48 hours right before one of their most crucial games!
The tactics that Phil tried to teach were simple. He developed a sort of passing system called the triangle, where in players in the attack would position themselves in a triangular shape, with two other players and keep the ball moving. With the pace in which basketball moves, this system allowed to structure the chaos.
The documentary gives a perspective to how the team also had their fair share of politics and sheds light on different factors that contributed to their successes.Since it’s premier on 19th April, The Last Dance has managed to average 6 million viewers per episode and the numbers have been rising rapidly. It’s available to stream on Netflix.
