It was a very nice Mother’s Day for me. I didn’t exchange one word of politics with any other human. I had a great dinner with my mom and then went home to watch The Last Dance.
I was not let down by Episodes 7 & 8. In fact—as much as I loved the segments with Michael learning how to overcome the Detroit Pistons…this was the perfect emotional fit for me on a Mother’s Day week-end. This tugged at my heart.
We got to see Michael behind the competitive wall which he built around himself as the player who had to overcome the Detroit Pistons and their Jordan Rule’s doctrine.
Winning at any level is tough. But think about what Michael Jordan did in his last six seasons in the NBA. He won six NBA championships in six seasons which means his team never lost a playoff series.
Kevin Durant without Steph, Klay, Draymond and Iggy by his side never won an NBA championship.
Russell Westbrook without Kevin Durant on the court with him has never won an NBA playoff series and is a collective 4-12 in post season games played.
James Harden has never won a Western Conference Finals. Chris Paul if memory serves me correct has never played in a Western Conference Finals. Paul George did make it to ONE Eastern Conference Finals before LeBron reminded him of the food chain order of NBA life.
The adjective ‘great’ gets thrown around too much in today’s sports lexicon.
But Michael Jordan was truly great and to be great for a sustained period of time you have to be a tough-minded son of a bitch. You have to possess the will to get up every morning with that son of a bitch mindset.
Which brings me to Scottie and his unfortunate handling of the situation in ’94 versus the NY Knicks when Phil drew up the final shot for Tony Kukoc with 1.8 seconds left.
Did this diminish Scottie’s place in my Pantheon?
It did. To me…if you want to be the guy…this is when Scottie instead of not going back in the game….. simply should have said to Phil in front of the team, “I’ll make it. I’ll make the shot.”
That’s the difference between Michael and Scottie. Don’t get me wrong–Scottie Pippen is an easy Hall of Famer and was possibly a better defender than Michael Jordan.
But Michael was that rare and exceptional athlete who never left a doubt in either his teammates’ mind or Phil Jackson’s mind who was running the show.
True… Michael did get the ball to Steve Kerr and John Paxson in clutch situations…but it was Jordan who in his drive to win who initiated the play on the court—instead of staying on the bench.