Michael Jordan’s intensity is legendary and that wasn’t just reserved for games. The Last Dance has dipped its toe ever so slightly into practice footage of Jordan, both with the Bulls and the Dream Team, but if there’s one criticism for the incredible documentary it is that they haven’t utilized the footage of practices they had at their disposal enough.
Next week, we’ll get to the story of the 1995 practice fight with Steve Kerr, as ESPN teased late Sunday night, and hopefully this will be coupled with some more footage of Bulls practices that are legendary for their intensity. Jordan punching Kerr in the face is the most famous example of that, but it wasn’t the only time Jordan, in his words, “hauled off” and hit someone in practice.
Former Bulls center Will Perdue joined CBS Sports HQ on Sunday, along with Scott Burrell, and was asked if he could confirm whether Jordan had, indeed, punched him in a practice as well. Perdue said that did indeed happen, and that fights were fairly common by that point, so practice didn’t even end after the punch.
“He did. I wasn’t the only one.”
Will Perdue answers the question: Did Michael Jordan punch you during practice? #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/88HLaz6xfZ
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) May 4, 2020
While 10 hours seems like a ton for a documentary, with how much footage they had — and how many interviews they did — the filmmakers have done a great job simply picking a track and not deviating from it. Still, there’s so much left on the floor that you could do even more installments, and one that I know I personally would love to see is simply a supercut of the best practice footage they have.