Two positive things happened to me yesterday.
My wife took me out in our backyard and cut my hair like I was a dog as Pauli watched through the glass in what I would describe as a riveted state of interest. It was the longest my hair had gotten since high school. It was kinda cool though almost like a Sam Elliot type of hair chaos bordering on a Mike Gundy mullet. I feel so much better with my first hair cut in the coronavirus era.
Then we had a nice dinner of chicken enchiladas before I settled in and watched the first two hours of the ten hour ESPN film The Last Dance.
I love the movie. I will be in hoops heaven watching the remaining eight segments. As a fan–the Jordan Era of the NBA was by far the greatest in my life because Jordan and the Bulls had to deal with Larry Bird’s Celtics, Isiah’s Pistons, and Magic Johnson’s Lakers to climb to the summit of the NBA world on their way to six eventual NBA championships.
The most staggering Michael Jordan stat for me has always been Michael’s teams never lost an NBA Finals once they got there.
For me…those were the golden days when David Stern’s NBA made the move from being a nice league to becoming a league which today ranks only behind the NFL in overall fan interest across the world.
Jordan, Bird, Johnson, and Isiah Thomas in my hoops world changed me forever as a fan even beyond what Bill Walton did with the Portland Trailblazers on their magical run or what Maurice Cheeks and Dr. J did for me with that ’83 Sixer team.
The Jordan Era in the NBA is the greatest era I’ve witnessed as a sports fan in my lifetime.
The game has softened so much from then to now. It’s still a great game, but not the same attitude towards winning and what it takes to become a champion.
I in no way can even remotely compare the entire decade of Durant and Westbrook to being mentioned in the same breath with Michael and Scottie Pippen. Some of us used to make the those comparisons early in the Thunder glory days, but let’s be candid… Durant and Westbrook quite simply didn’t have the level of mental toughness to take their team to the summit.
Not to say though I won’t be all in when ESPN makes a film on the Thunder story up to the loss to the Warriors in 2016 leading to Durant’s escape to Oakland.
Durant is no Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, or Larry Bird. In fairness, Russell Westbrook isn’t Scottie Pippin either.
Durant although immensely talented will always in my mind have two asterisks next to two championships while to date Russell remains without a championship.
Anyway…looking ahead to next Sunday’s two episodes I thought I’d post this video on how Michael finally pushed his Bulls beyond the Bad Boy Pistons in ’91.
Great stuff.