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There was a lot to unpack from the fifth and sixth episodes of The Last Dance, from Jordan’s rise to becoming the world’s most famous athlete to his relationship with Kobe Bryant to his “Republicans buy sneakers too” comment to his affection for gambling. It was quite the journey, and what we saw on Sunday night will surely lead the sports conversation for the coming days, but ESPN made sure to let us know we’re diving even further into the weeds next week, and getting to a story many hoped we’d see.
As the documentary backtracks and traces Jordan’s career, they will look at his retirement and how the Bulls navigated the 1993-94 season without him, but it will also bring us to the infamous practice fight between Jordan and Steve Kerr, where Mike punched Kerr in the eye.
ESPN teased a minute of that discussion out in a video late Sunday night, as Kerr and Jordan remember what led to their spat and Jordan ultimately punching Kerr and getting kicked out of practice.
“I just haul off and hit him right in the f—ing eye. And Phil just throws me out of practice.”
Episodes 7 & 8 air next Sunday at 9 PM ET on ESPN
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— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 4, 2020
It’s far from the only practice fight the Bulls had — Will Perdue recalls being punched by Jordan too — but given Kerr’s status now as coach of the Warriors, this is the one most often referenced when discussing Mike’s intensity in practices. Hopefully there’s some footage of the fight that can accompany the accounts from the various parties, but whatever the case we’re going to apparently touch on his practice intensity more in the upcoming episode and those stories are always fun.
For how brilliant Michael Jordan was during the 1992-93 NBA season, his final one prior to his first retirement from the league, he was not named MVP that year. The honor went to Charles Barkley, who led the Phoenix Suns to a league-best 62-20 record while averaging 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game.
Jordan was, however, able to extract a measure of revenge by leading the Chicago Bulls to a 4-2 series win over the Suns in the NBA Finals, marking the third year in a row that Chicago won a championship. The Bulls knocked Phoenix off in Game 1, something Barkley chalked up to nerves. In Game 2, Barkley had an absolutely torrid performance, scoring 42 points and ripping down 13 rebounds.
The huge game was not enough — Jordan had 42 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists en route to a 111-108 win for the Bulls. During episode 6 of ESPN’s The Last Dance, Barkley explained that this particular game stuck with him, because it let a thought creep into his mind that he had never considered before.
“In Game 2, I played as well as I could play,” Barkley said. “And Michael just out-played me. That was probably the first time in my life that I felt like there was a better basketball player in the world than me, to be honest with you.”
To his credit, Barkley was quite good during these Finals, averaging 27.3 points, 13 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in 46.2 minutes per game. He just got out-played by someone better, which is hardly an insult when that person is Michael Jordan.