Chicago Bulls: 5 best Michael Jordan quotes from Episode 9 of ‘The Last Dance’

In the penultimate episode of ‘The Last Dance,’ Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan gave us some amazing quotes. Here are the 5 best things MJ said.

5. Acknowledging Chicago

"“You still gotta come through Chicago. Utah, Indiana, they still gotta come through Chicago. I don’t care what happens today. I don’t care what happened in the other series. Still gotta come through Chicago.” -Michael Jordan"

Michael Jordan said this after the Chicago Bulls dropped Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Indiana Pacers. That was the game where Reggie Miller had the historic push-off followed by the even-more-historic game-winning jumper.

There’s something so calming about the way MJ says “they still gotta come through Chicago” after the heartbreaking Game 4 loss. It was his last run with the Bulls and they were in serious trouble of getting bounced by Miller and Co., but you still never get the feeling that he was nervous at all. It’s a truly cathartic quote.

4. MJ’s motivation during the ’97 Finals

"“Karl Malone getting MVP” -Michael Jordan"

This was Jordan’s response when asked what motivated him the most heading into the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that this was what motivated MJ. By this point in The Last Dance, it has become quite obvious that it didn’t take much for MJ to feel slighted by someone or something.

It’s not that Malone didn’t have a good 1996-97 season. He put up incredible numbers and the Jazz won 64 games. But still — Michael should’ve won the MVP. He put up better numbers than Malone and the Bulls won 69 games. He was clearly the best and most valuable player that season.

If Malone didn’t win the MVP, would that have changed the outcome of the 1997 Finals? Probably not. MJ would’ve found something else to motivate him. But it’s still hilarious to think that Malone winning the ’97 MVP might’ve been the worst possible thing for his career.

3. MJ on Bryon Russell

"“I knew how he played. You know, he played on the front of his toes. Give him a head-and-shoulder fake. Go one way. He can’t stop.” -Michael Jordan"

I sort of feel bad for Bryon Russell. He’s the guy getting picked on in so many of Jordan’s legendary highlights. Of course, had Russell not taken some jabs at Jordan during his first retirement stint, maybe Jordan wouldn’t have picked on him so much.

You know what? I change my mind. Russell had it coming.

The quote above serves as a nice precursor to the clip of Jordan hitting a game-winner over Russell in Game 1 of the 1997 Finals, but it also (even more brilliantly) foreshadows the biggest shot of MJ’s career, his final shot as Bull.

2. A pizza getting the best of MJ

"“I ate the pizza, all by myself. Nobody else eats the pizza.” -Michael Jordan"

Yep. We’ve all been there, Mike. Unfortunately, whenever I eat a whole pizza, I don’t follow it up with one of the most legendary athletic feats of all time.

I’m still young, though. I have time.

1. Throwing jabs at Larry Bird

"“All right, take care. Now you can work on that golf game of yours.” -Michael Jordan"

That’s what Jordan said to Pacers head coach Larry Bird after the Bulls knocked out Indiana in a hard-fought Eastern Conference Finals. The quote by itself isn’t anything fancy, but the fact that Jordan had the audacity to say that to Larry Bird is simply magnificent.

Bird is one of the top-7 players in NBA history and arguably one of the best trash talkers any sport has ever seen. MJ didn’t care. He’s better at both basketball and trash talk.