“The Last Dance” will see a lot of the story behind the scenes between Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the next two parts of the 10-part ESPN/ABC/Netflix documentary series featuring the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls title team entitled “The Last Dance”, there should be an emphasis in one of the episodes of the recently passed all-time great Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant. The two focuses of two of the next parts of The Last Dance should be what happened in the Bulls-Knicks legendary rivalry and Kobe’s relationship with Chicago’s all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan.
Throughout the entirety of the docuseries, Jordan is obviously the main character. He gets the bulk of the screen time on interviews, and deservingly so. But on one of the nights of the five for the releases of the 10 parts of The Last Dance, most of the attention will go to Kobe and the thoughts of his great playing days. His passing earlier this year is still hard to realize for most NBA fans.
At least this is a look back on the better days for Kobe and MJ. They had a unique relationship, which was why Jordan called Kobe essentially his little brother at the memorial speech at Staples Center a few months back.
Kobe and MJ are two of the best to ever play in the NBA. They are definitely two of the best shooting guards of all-time. And they had a few classic meetings in the regular season and in All-Star Weekend.
Here’s a look into the three times that Chicago Bulls/Washington Wizards shooting guard Michael Jordan and Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant inspired us all through the game of basketball.
3. 1998 NBA All-Star Weekend
There were a lot of special parts that went into the 1998 NBA All-Star Weekend festivities. And one of the biggest and most memorable storylines that surfaced was the matchup between Kobe and Jordan. This would also wind up becoming the most memorable All-Star Game that Kobe and Jordan would both be playing in. They would still play in two other All-Star Games together.
In the 1998 NBA All-Star Game, Kobe would post 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds, one assist, and two steals. That does seem like something Kobe would do to come up with two steals on top of a solid offensive performance in an All-Star Game.
Meanwhile, MJ came up with the only performance that could top Kobe. MJ would win the All-Star Game MVP honors for the final time in his run in a Bulls uniform. He registered 23 points, on 10-of-18 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. MJ stole the MVP honors from Kobe, and the game for the Eastern Conference.
Other significant All-Stars that participated in the game in 1998 included Shawn Kemp, Dikembe Mutombo, Penny Hardaway, Tim Hardaway, Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Kevin Garnett, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan, and David Robinson. This was a more loaded All-Star Game than usual in terms of eventual Hall-of-Famers.
2. Kobe Bryant hangs 33 on Michael Jordan in December 1997
Even early in his career in the late 1990’s there were glimpses from Kobe that showed what he would eventually blossom into in the early 2000’s. In just his second year in the NBA, basketball fans really got to see what Kobe could do as he would get his first career All-Star selection just as a sophomore in the league.
At one point of the 1997-98 season, which is the focus for this Bulls team in The Last Dance, Kobe gave Jordan and his squad a true test in December. One of Kobe’s very best game throughout the entirety of the 1997-98 regular season came against Jordan and the Bulls. His third best individual game score of the season would come on Dec. 17, 1997.
In that mid-December regular season showdown between Kobe and MJ, the former would look like he could have the type of outing that would give his team the upset victory. Kobe shot 12-of-20 from the field for 33 points, three rebounds, and two assists. One of the most impressive parts of the night for him was the fact that he had no turnovers.
That 1997-98 Bulls team played insanely good defense, as they did throughout pretty much every single one of the dynasty years in the 1990’s.
In the end, it didn’t matter that Kobe gave the Lakers 33 points. His Lakers came in with a record of 18-5, and the Bulls weren’t doing too great with a record of just 14-9. By all indications, this was the perfect opportunity for Kobe to come out on top. Jordan still managed to drop a game-high 36 points and get a whopping 21-point victory for the Bulls over the Lakers.
1. Kobe destroys Michael just before his final retirement
The way Jordan went out in one of his final regular season games was not actually memorable for his actions. In pretty much every game that Jordan played in during his NBA career that was very memorable for basketball fans, it was due to his actions and legendary performances. But this was goes to Kobe.
Trying to one-up each other was a consistent story between Kobe and Jordan. These two lived on the competition between each other on-the-court, even though there was significant respect between them off-the-court. This time around in March 2003, Kobe would finally have a huge performance that wouldn’t be cast in MJ’s shadow.
By this point, Kobe had already won multiple NBA Championships with former Bulls head coach Phil Jackson now leading the way for the Lakers. He and Shaq were taking the NBA by storm while MJ was on his way out with the Wizards. Just one month later, MJ would hang ’em up for the final time as his playing days would be officially over.
In this March 2003 regular season showdown between the Wizards and Lakers, Kobe would hang an insane season-high and game-high 55 points to beat MJ. Kobe shot 15-of-29 from the field to get those 55 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Meanwhile, Jordan had a decent night that wasn’t near enough to beat Kobe and the Lakers where he registered 23 points, four assists, and one steal. The Lakers would win this March 28, 2003 meeting by more than 20 points.