“The Last Dance” caused some friction between some former Chicago Bulls legends, but it appears to be more cleared up of late.
One of the more notable storylines following the conclusion of the hit 10-part ABC/ESPN/Netflix documentary series chronicling the Chicago Bulls 1997-98 title-winning team “The Last Dance” was the developing bone that Hall-of-Fame forward Scottie Pippen had to pick with legendary shooting guard Michael Jordan. But these two might not be on the same page as much as we once thought they were in The Last Dance after all.
Pippen and Jordan appeared to have nothing but good words for each other in the interviews that had in The Last Dance, especially in the earlier parts of the docuseries. That quickly turned around when Pippen started to voice his frustrations in the media with the way that Bulls team was portrayed and The Last Dance was framed by MJ as a whole.
But this entire saga of how Jordan and Pippen have reacted to The Last Dance was a real roller coaster ride. That anger that Pippen started to display at points in the media has apparently calmed down of late. In a recent set of reports (overall thanks to ESPN), Pippen “downplays” the rift with MJ after the premier of The Last Dance.
Here’s more on what that piece from ESPN had to say on this matter.
"There were reports that Pippen was unhappy with his portrayal in the documentary, but he said Tuesday, “I wasn’t upset about it.” The documentary also included Pippen’s refusal to enter Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals in the final seconds.“It didn’t bother me at all,” Pippen said. “It was an opportunity for our younger generation that hadn’t seen or knew anything about basketball in the ’90s.”"
In all likelihood, if the frustrations that Pippen once voiced with The Last Dance are all said and done up to this point, then this storyline will start to fade into the distance. Considering he publicly seems settled on the matter, this should all go away fairly fast.
But in general, there were a lot of people that reacted in a negative sense to The Last Dance. A lot of the negative reactions were voiced around the fact that the docuseries was portrayed with so called “MJ colored glasses”.
Pippen and Jordan form the best duo in NBA history, and the one that won the most championships in the modern era. This so called “rift” should not last all that long, unless there was really something truly wrong with how The Last Dance was portrayed compared to how things really happened with this legendary Bulls dynasty.