All language subtitles for The.Last.Dance.S01E07.English

Well...

First of all, there's no
backstabbing going on here, okay?

Okay? You understand me when I say that?

There's no backstabbing
going on here, okay?

Second part of it is, no,
I'm not surprised at all,

and I'm amazed that you
would even make a statement like that.

But I'm not surprised at all because
this team is composed of professionals.

It's composed of guys who understand
what they have to do

and who are winners,
unlike the comment you just made.

Gentlemen, good night.

A spectacular move!

And the game's over!

Chicago stadium is going wild.

First of all,
there's no backstabbing going on here.

It's time for me to move on.

This will be Phil's last year
as the coach of the bulls.

Are the expectations
way too h/gh 7

Where do we go from here?

The only question:
How long can it last?

[Announced
I/I/e 're at the united center in Chicago.

Opening of the NBA playoffs.

Ton/ght, game 7 of round 7
and the start of a best-of-fl've series

against the New Jersey nets.

Michael Jordan actually
said to lose a game to the nets,

lose a game to the nets,

his team would have to "fall asleep."

Can that backfire on him or
does that just not happen to Superman?

These are the bulls.
They're not worried about the nets.

This is a sweep. Bring the brooms out,
3-0, move on to the next series, man.

Come on.

- What time is it?
- Game time!

The playoffs is the highest level
competition that we have in our game.

You got 82 games in a regular season,

but you can kick all that aside.

The playoffs is the playoffs.

And to be able to play
against the best competition,

that was the driving force for me,
without a doubt.

And the opening up.
And it will be bu/is ' possession.

And Keith Van horn
gives the nets the lead

and you can see the athleticism
of the New Jersey nets early on.

And a shocked crowd

and Phil Jackson
watches the bulls trail by seven.

And here is k er/y kitties
with a great sweeping la y-in,

and New Jersey
have taken a 72 to 3 lead

here's Ron Harper stuffing it through,

and the bulls have come back
to trail John cal/pari's nets.

Jordan over kitties. Hits.

But the nets keep coming.

Under two minutes to go. It's gatling.

He had 24. Here are two of them.

7'ied at 89, we go to overtime.

Knocked away. Stolen by Michael!

/I/I.j. On the run/

Michael dunks the ball and fouled/
oh, my/

and here come the nets.

Douglas for a three at the horn.
Short rebound p/ppen.

And that'll do it.

The bulls win it,
not without a scare from the nets.

A pretty bumpy start for the bulls.

If Friday's opener is any indication,
Chicago could be in for a long series.

Watching this team
as they embarked on the playoffs,

you just had the feeling
that Michael Jordan was mentally,

emotionally exhausted.

He kind of looked
like the Michael Jordan of 1993.

Oliver ll/li/ler plays him.
Here's Johnson.

Johnson get...
No, he could not get it off

knocked away by Grant it's all over.

The Chicago Bulls have made it
three stra/ght NBA championsh/ps.

After we won the championship,
I sat in the gym with my father.

In the back of my mind, I knew that
that was probably my last game,

and no one really knew,
except for my father and myself.

He was my rock.

You know, we were very close.

He constantly gave me advice.

I remember, in ninth grade, I got
suspended three times in one year,

and my father pulled me aside
that summer and said,

"look, you don't look like you're
heading in the right direction.

You know, if you want to go about
doing all this mischievous stuff,

you can forget sports."

And that's all I needed to hear.

From that point on,
it was like tunnel vision,

and I never got in trouble
from that point on.

He had a very strong influence
on Michael's life.

He just was a wonderful,
wonderful, positive man.

Hey, I'm here for this man.

I want to negotiate my contract.

If you knew Michael,

you pretty much knew James,
because they were always together.

They were very close, best friends.

We'd hang out before the games,

and he'd find some kid
in the stand somewhere,

some kid that never had a chance in the
world of ever meeting Michael Jordan,

and when the game was over,
he'd walk that kid into the locker room.

The kid would just be through the roof.

James Jordan was there
when his son, Michael,

led the Chicago Bulls
to their first NBA championship in 7997.

James and deloris Jordan
remained an anchor for him.

They attended eve/y bulls game
they could

Around the NBA,

James Jordan relished
his stand-in role for a superstar son.

To tell you how proud I am, um...

I'd have to search for more words
than what I've got.

He's the voice of reason
that always drove and challenged me.

That's the type of father I had.

Yeah, like a friend.

I was supposed to pick up
Michael's father from the airport.

He was supposed to come into town

for a charity event
that Michael was throwing.

And I went to the airport
to pick up his dad,

and he never showed up.

So, of course,
I called his mom and I said,

"hey, you know, pops isn't here."

We knew he was down
at the Hilton head house playing golf.

When we didn't hear from him,
we both thought,

"well, okay,
they're still playing golf."

She said, "well, just come on back.

Don't worry about him. He probably
got sidetracked a little bit.

He'll show up."

I was off doing my thing, and, you know,

my mom said she hadn't talked to him
in some time.

He drives and goes down to Wilmington
to visit old friends,

stay a couple of days,

drive back, but my mother's
always in dialogue with him.

When she got worried,
we all got worried.

Oh, yes. Definitely unusual.

I knew something wasn't right.

James Jordan, the father
of bulls superstar Michael Jordan,

has not been seen for three weeks.

His car was found stripped and hidden

in some woods near fayetteville,
north Carolina.

The car, a red Lexus,

was missing the license plates.
It was battered

the windows were broken out.

You know, and we tried to backtrack
what his actions were.

He left a certain day.

He was driving back and just got tired.

Instead of driving,
he pulled off and he just took a nap.

Next thing you know,
things happened the way they happened.

Good day. I/I/e're coming
on the air now with word

that the body of James Jordan
has been found in a creek

near the border between south
and north Carolina.

In vest/gators say
Jordan was driving late at n/ght,

when he pulled off the road
to take a nap.

And he was awakened,

and at that time,
he was shot once in the chest.

Two 78-year-old men

are charged with the robbery and murder
of James Jordan.

As for Michael Jordan,

he arrived back home today
in north Carolina,

back to face the most painful moments
of an already-troubled year.

Meanwhile, Jordan's murder adds
another bitter twist to the dark side

of an all-American success story.

You know, that's just such a horrible,
hard thing to talk about.

I can remember that,
flying into north Carolina.

Michael couldn't tie his tie,

so I had to tie the tie for him,

and that moment was just so hard,
so hard of what we were there for.

We all were together,
and it was devastating,

but it was about support.

You know, we had to support each other.

You know, my mother was so strong.

And the first thing she says,
"you know, you got to be thankful."

You know,
and I started looking at the positive.

Michael's the one got up and spoke,
and he spoke about,

I think, what a father he'd been to him,

more a father, but also a friend.

He'd been there. A lot of things
he wouldn't share with anybody else,

he shared with his dad.

One of the things that he always taught
me is that you have to take a negative

and turn it into a positive.

So I started looking
to the other side of it,

and that helped me get through it.

When his dad was murdered,

all the articles,
the speculation that came out...

It was not journalism's finest hour.

The violent death sparked
a half-dozen theories about the motive,

some including possible connections
to gambling.

That was really bad.

That was really unfair.
Can you imagine that?

Your father gets killed,
and now they're blaming you?

I mean,
that was really cheap-shot stuff.

It did hurt, you know, but you
had people that were throwing darts

who wanted to hurt me anyway.

It wasn't from the people that I loved

or the people that knew me
and people that cares.

It was the people that, you know,
got tired of me being on top.

Basketball superstar Michael
Jordan issued a statement Thursday.

He expressed that he was outraged
by some media speculation

linking his behavior
to his father's murder.

Jordan said, "I simply cannot comprehend
how others could intentionally pour salt

in my open wound by insinuating
that mistakes in my life

are in some way connected
to my father's death."

There isn't
a thimble's worth of evidence

to connect that horrible incident
to Michael Jordan's gambling,

or any other aspect
of Michael Jordan's behavior.

Police said it was no more
than brutality and greed,

that James Jordan,
"could have been any one of us."

What is still unclear,
and will be for some time,

is what effect this tragedy
will have on Michael Jordan

and his future with the Chicago Bulls.

Basketball? Haven't even thought
about basketball.

And I didn't even think about basketball
before all this happened,

so, right now, everything's tentative
for my schedule from this point on.

David falk came over to me
at a charity dinner

that was sponsored by Michael
and said,

"you're not going to believe this,
but Michael wants to retire."

I said, “I don't believe it."

At that time, we were coming
off of three championships.

I'd fulfilled my responsibility
to the city,

to the bulls, to my teammates.

I did not try to talk him out of it,
but I did say to him,

"you can't make a final decision,
until you talk to Phil."

Reinsdorf's office, in the berto center.

Yeah.

And I told Phil, I said, "look,
I'm about here. I'm about done.

I have no more challenges.
I have no motivation."

I was done.

This was a young man that had gone
through some heartrending things.

You're denying a gift to society,
but I understand.

You know, I understand.

Game 7 of the
American league championship series,

as the Chicago white sox greet
the world champion Toronto blue jays.

Michael was scheduled
to throw out the first pitch.

He threw out the first pitch
of game 7 of the al cs,

and then he went up
into a private box with his family.

I'm watching a white sox
playoff game in comiskey park.

A kid comes up and says,
"Mr. Reinsdorf wants to talk to you.“

so I went up and I grabbed Jerry
and, "what's up?"

He said, "Michael's quitting."

I said, "what? No, no, what's up?

Don't joke with me.
That's serious stuff."

He said, "no, he's quitting, jerr."

That game was a Tuesday,

and we wanted to hold the story
until Wednesday,

but it leaked out.

Breaking story here.

The Chicago Bulls have called
a press conference for tomorrow morning,

and there's high speculation
and a report

that Michael Jordan will retire
from basketball forever.

So, all hell broke out at the ballpark
on a Tuesday night.

Go on, move it back!

Media trying to get into
my box to get to Michael. It was wild.

Michael decided to exit
stage left in the seventh inning.

Jordan speeding away
from comiske y park without comment.

Did Michael
talk to you about it?

So, too,
Chicago Bulls owner, Jerry reinsdorf

before we continue tonight,

a late-breaking story
of enormous interest.

A shocking revelation tonight
for all chicagoans.

Sources with the Chicago Bulls
have confirmed that Michael Jordan

will announce his retirement
effective immediately

at a Wednesday morning press conference.

CBS news will carry
Michael Jordan's announcement live.

Our coverage will begin
this morning at 11:00 eastern time.

Alison, this is
the ultimate press conference.

Every cameraman, every reporter
I've ever known in this business,

from all parts of the country,
from dick schaap, to Tom brokaw,

to everyone here,
waiting for the arrival of players,

Michael Jordan and his entourage
and the bulls management.

And whether you agree or not

that this should be the news story
of the year, it is.

Close to 700 cameras
from around the world..

Get ready for entry on camera.

And three times as many reporters.

They come from everywhere,

from the local weeklies to network news.

That's a tribute to Michael Jordan's
presence in American life

as the greatest basketball player
who ever lived.

Here they come. Here they come.
Here he comes. Here he comes.

Here he comes. Here he comes.

Michael Jordan now is entering.

Our hearts are with you, Michael.

Here's Michael Jordan right
now, taking his place at the podium,

surrounded by security.

It's hard to overstate
the loss of Michael Jordan

to the national basketball association

and to the heartbeat
of this community of Chicago.

He has led this team to three
NBA championsh/ps, of course.

The superstar's
frequently the talk of the town,

but this time, the talk
is more like a chorus of mourning.

Michael, all smiles, really.

Jerry reinsdorf Phil Jackson,
Jerry k rause.

NBA commissioner David stern
even in attendance.

It looks like the last supper.

This is a very bittersweet day.

There's a certain sadness,
because the greatest athlete

to ever play a team sport
is leaving the game.

But it's really, for me,
a very, very happy day,

because somebody
who I admire and respect...

Is doing exactly what he wants to do.

And I'm absolutely convinced
that he's doing the right thing.

Michael?

Thanks, Jerry.

I'm a very optimistic person.

I guess the biggest positive thing
that I can take out of my father

not being here with me today
is that he saw my last basketball game,

and that means a lot. Um...

The word "retire" means you can do
anything you want from this day on.

So if I desire to come back and play
again, maybe that's what I want to do.

Maybe that's a challenge that I may need
some day down the road.

I'm not going to close that door.

I was at peace with that decision.

Totally, 100%.

You know, I felt ready.

Michael Jordan's retirement in 1993

was one of those seismic,

"where were you
when you heard the news?" Moments.

And you immediately think, "why?"

Nobody could rationalize
that Michael would just walk away.

There's one side of this
that maybe we ought to mention,

and I don't want to sound negative,

but Michael did leave, abruptly, in
the middle of a gambling investigation.

Look at some of the events
that have recently happened.

His father was tragically murdered.

There's a number of questions
about his gambling.

And you start to connect some dots
and you think,

"is this all related?

Was this a secret suspension?"

The retirement... there were
any number people who would say,

"well, David stern suspended him, right?
Wink-wink.

A suspension, right?"

And that was... it was out there.

You're telling me that David stern,

the ultimate capitalist,

takes his number-one player
on his number-one franchise

and unilaterally decides
to lower the value

of the rest of the league franchises
by taking him out and the bulls out,

effectively, um...
For some secret penalty,

and no one ever finds out about it?

How can I phrase this delicately?

Total bullshit.

Can you use that?

Total bullshit.

There was so much speculative reporting.

Nobody had concrete facts.
Nobody had anything.

The folklore, the urban legend
that I sent him away

because he was gambling...

Ridiculous. It never...
No basis in fact whatever.

I could bang on the table and say,

"it's a calumny, a slanderous lie,"
or whatever.

It's just not true.

Never was and never will be,

no matter how many times people
ask the question.

Yes, he did.

I didn't retire
because he kicked me out,

or they suspended me
for a year and a half.

That is not true.
There is no truth to that.

Uh, I needed a break.
You know, my father just passed,

and I retired.

You know, and I retired with the notion
that I wasn't going to come back.

The conspiracy stuff was stupid,

because I had sat with him
a year earlier,

and he told me what he was going to do.

The summer of '92,
and it's the dream team summer.

You can tell he was really tired.

As tired as he looked
and as beat up as he looked,

I said, "so, what are you going to do?"

There's a long pause, and he said,
"I'm going to shock the world."

He said, "no,
I'm going to quit and go play baseball."

And I said, "when?"

And he said, "well, I'd do it right now,

except bird and magic
never won three in a row,

and I got to do the Olympics.

But if it wasn't for that,
I'd be playing this summer."

The b/g top for this circus
went up at 70:45 this morning.

Michael went through a series of drills,
including fielding,

catching and throwing.

I/I/ith batting practice done,

mj. Headed to his news conference,
and rumor became reality.

Thank you all for coming out here today
and getting a glimpse of Michael.

After watching the progress that Michael
has made in the past two months,

I'd like to announce that the Chicago
white sox are extending an invitation

to major league camp in sarasota.

Along with the bulls,
I owned the Chicago white sox.

And when Michael was signed
to play baseball,

I continued paying him
his basketball contract,

which was something
over $3 million a year.

There was no reason to pay him other
than he was underpaid his entire career,

and he'd made a lot of money
for a lot of people.

Picture this now,
bottom of the ninth, bases loaded,

3-2, Michael Jordan
takes one out of the yard.

Michael Jordan
got what he wanted

he is a rookie again.

A lot of people
may think this off the wall.

Maybe it is, but, I mean, I'm doing
something that I choose to do,

and that's try to follow one of
the dreams that I had when I was a kid.

He'd always loved playing baseball.

You know, we thought we was going to be
major league baseball players, man,

growing up as kids.

He loves baseball and his father
always wanted him to play baseball.

We were debating, me and him.

We were debating
about me playing baseball.

"Dad, I want to go play baseball.

I'm thinking about retiring,
I want to go play baseball."

All the things that he was saying,
"do it, do it."

'Cause he got me started in baseball.

It was always his father's dream
that he'd be a baseball player,

and so I didn't try to talk him
out of it, but I did say to him,

"you know, playing baseball
is a lot harder than you think it is."

I said, "what position
are you going to be playing?"

He says,
"I'm going to be in the outfield."

So, I said, "Michael,
let's understand something here."

I said, "the workouts
are going to be totally different.

Two totally different methods
of training your body and muscles.

This is going to be detrimental
to your basketball game."

He's like, "I don't care."
He goes, "baseball, I'm all in."

He played baseball
until he was 17 years old,

and then doesn't play baseball
again until he's 31 years old.

We don't send anybody to double-a after
they come out of college or high school,

because it's too high a level.

We start them out
either at rookie ball or at a-ball,

but we couldn't do that with Michael,

because the press facilities
were inadequate below double-a.

So we put him at double-a,

strictly because we needed
to be able to handle the media.

Michael Jordan
went to the Birmingham barons,

the double-a farm team
of the Chicago white sox.

When we found out he was coming
to the Birmingham work group,

there was about four days left
in spring training.

And I just said,

"hey, man, I'm Terry, and I guess
I'm going to be your manager."

Let's go, Mike!

I remember being
in Birmingham, Alabama.

You never, in a zillion years,

would have thought
you were at a minor league game.

You can't believe commotion,
the excitement.

Never has one rookie
gotten so much attention.

Folks are lying on the ground
for a glimpse of m. J.

Reporters and photographers
continue to arrive

from all over the world

Every ballpark we go to sold out.

Everybody wants a piece of him.

J“ if you can't take the heat
get your ass out the kitchen j“

j“ we on a mission j“

j“ come along and ride on a j“

j“ fantastic voyage
slide, slide, who-ride j“

j“ you better be ready
when the five roll byj“

it was kind of fashionable to roll
your eyes at him playing baseball.

After I met him,

I realized quickly how much he respected
what we were doing.

7-7 pitch to Michael.

Looping drive.
It will score at least one.

The thing that people forget
about that season

was he started out
with a 13-game hitting streak.

Jordan, base hit, left field

and Jordan delivers a two-rb/ single
to right-center field

Every night during
that 13-game hitting streak,

I'm kind of going,
"when's it going to happen?"

And, finally, it did.

He did not see a fastball
in the strike zone

for probably a month and a half.

Now they're trying to get him out
with breaking balls,

and it's breaking ball
after breaking ball after breaking ball.

And he's swinging at every one of them
that came up there.

Second strikeout
in a row for Michael Jordan.

Seen a lot of breaking
balls the last two n/ghts, hasn't he 7

That hitting streak
in April was kind of a fluke.

At that point, the national media
was just giving him some shit.

I think his chances
of being any good at all are almost nil.

Playing.
And can't make the play.

Just because you're considered
the best to have ever played basketball

does not mean you'll find
similar success on the diamond.

And now they put him on the cover
of sports illustrated

he's missing a pitch by about that much,
anditsays,

"bag it, Michael!
Jordan embarrasses baseball."

I remember seeing that and thinking,
“oh, no."

He calls it his dream that he wants
to be a major league baseball player.

I call it a delusion.

He never spoke to anybody
from sports illustrated again.

Definitely.

I never was interviewed for that.

They came out to critique me

without understanding
what my passion was at the time.

If you had a question, ask.

And then if you want to write it,
then you write it.

I said, "fine. No problem.
That's your opinion."

But I can care less what people do.
This is what I want to do.

It's not what... I'm not doing
what they think I should be doing.

My father already told me
I was doing the right thing,

and I did it.

Being away from basketball gave him
an opportunity to adjust his life

to not having his dad and moving on.

That fueled me
more so than anything

and it drove me to make this thing work.

I got to play catch-up, but I'm going
to do it, I'm going to do it.

I had fucking blisters,
the second skin, swinging that bat.

His work ethic was the best
I've ever been around.

He would hit early in the day.

He'd hit off the breaking-ball machine.

He would come in after
regular batting practice,

hit some more before the game,

and then would hit again after the game.

By the time we got to August...

You can see it just building.

And he kept getting better
and better and better.

In the seventh. Hits a fly ball.

That's deep, left field
that's back and.. Gone.

Home run, Michael Jordan.

And he hit over .200.

That was amazing that he did that well.

I can't believe he actually hit .202

and he drove in 50 runs.

We had a lot of good prospects
that didn't drive in 50 runs.

In my opinion, with 1,500 at bats,

he'd have found a way
to get to the major league.

Swing, and this is a live ball.

I think the time away in baseball
freed his mind of, you know,

obviously, what had happened
to his father.

When you're out on the road
with a baseball team,

that's who you're with.

Your family doesn't travel with you,

so you hang out with the guys
that you're with,

and that was all of his teammates.

I think he enjoyed it immensely.

Sure, I mean,
I was this big icon but...

They treated me just as I wanted
to be treated, just one of the guys.

It was good. It was good for him.

He was like a kid again.

The pre-playoff buzz around the league

was that the Chicago Bulls
were vulnerable.

Now, we've heard those same declarations
in the past from the so-called pundits,

but maybe this year
they finally have some merit,

especially after the injury-riddled
and eighth-seeded New Jersey nets

took the five-time NBA world champions
into overtime.

Every time we would play good
and we were winning games,

everything was okay.

But everybody was always
on alert around Michael

after a bad game like that.

He would say, "you motherfuckers
didn't do a thing today.

Come ready tomorrow to practice."

His theory was,
"if you can't handle pressure from me,

um, you're not going to be able
to handle pressure of the NBA playoffs."

And so he talked trash in practice.

He went at guys.

He challenged guys.

Eeh! Eeh! Eeh!

Whoo! Yee!

Whoo!

"Ooh!" Yeah, I remember.
I remember. Yeah.

Um, he wants to win, and you got
to earn everything in Chicago.

There was nothing easy,
nothing given to you.

You better go out there and earn it,
and you earned it in practice.

Huh?

I mean, they just rode Scotty,

and Scotty just smiled at Michael
and took it and fired right back at him.

You don't want... hey!

I got Scott.

Scotty burrell was a talented guy.

And Scott burrell,

an exceptional basketball player,
out of the university of Connecticut.

What Scotty was lacking
was commitment,

determination, seriousness,

so he became, you know,
my guy to kind of push,

keep pushing, keep pushing.

I tried to get him to fight me
a couple of times,

in a good sense, you know,

just to get him, "all right, man,
I'm tired of you picking on me."

You know, that type of mentality.

I could never get him.

He's such a nice guy.

But I knew we were gonna need him
at some point in time.

"Man, he's going to remember this

and he's going to get out there
and he's going to fight."

You're playing with a guy
that has the highest standards

of any basketball player ever.

You want to live up to that challenge.

It's tough, tough love.

I mean, you got to go out there
and do your job.

He'd get feisty at a practice
and maybe get up against people.

You know, I'd have to talk a little bit
about toning it down and make amends

and, you know,
keep that level of team camaraderie.

That's your role, too, you know,
as a part of this and being a captain.

My mentality
was to go out and win,

at any cost.

If you don't want to live
that regimented mentality,

then you don't need to be
alongside of me,

'cause I'm going to ridicule you
until you get on the same level with me.

And if you don't get on the same level,
then it's going to be hell for you.

Why you keep fucking up that play,
you big, fathead motherfucker?

People were afraid of him.

We were his teammates and we were
afraid of him. There was just fear.

- Catch the ball when I throw it to you.
- What?

I just threw it to you.

Ignore this guy. He's coming
through, but he's overplaying.

The fear factor of m.J.
Was so, so thick.

Yeah, let's not get it wrong.
He was an asshole. He was a jerk.

He crossed the line numerous times.

But as time goes on and you think back

about what he was actually
trying to accomplish,

you're like, "yeah,
he was a hell of a teammate."

He was pushing us all to be better
'cause he wanted to win.

And guess what. It worked.

We kind of needed that.
You know what I'm saying?

I needed him to be the bad guy,
the tough guy.

It was a struggle.

You know, Scott got a great personality.

He took it like a man
and he embraced it.

There you go.

Each and every day,
he's going to push you and push you

to try to get you where he is,

but I'm not sure if he knows
that only he can achieve those goals.

But he can push other guys
to try to get there though.

The bulls held their first
workout minus Michael Jordan today,

the central peg gone
from a nine-year era

that left the bulls with several
key challenges and question marks

about the upcoming season.

It's a great opportunity for ballplayers
that have wanted larger roles

on this team to step up
and fill some shoes.

Scottie has now stepped out
of the shadow of a great figure

and he's now got the light
all shining on him.

We just got to put the story behind
with having Michael and go on.

I mean, our lives goes on,
the game goes on, basketball goes on.

Now p/ppen on the move.

P/ppen accelerates.
P/ppen down the Lane.

And that is vintage scottie p/ppen.

Rider takes it in.
Blocked away by scottie/

Horace Grant
running down the left side.

P/ppen on the fight.
Scottie gives it back to Steve kerr,

lets fiy.

Time winding down.
Battles. Scottie p/ppen/

Oh, man/

Scottie was
our prime motivator, initiator,

organized the offense.

He, you know,
really stepped into that role.

Great.

They had nobody yelling at them.

Um, they got up plenty of shots.

Michael would just bludgeon
everybody around him,

and scottie was the much softer touch.

He was the guy who would
sort of comfort you

when things weren't going well
and put his arm around you and,

"hang in there. You'll be all right."

Everyone expected me
to try to be the man,

but we beat teams by committee

and we just learned to play together
and share the ball and win together.

Eventually picked up off of that.

And here's Pete Myers. Good trailing.

That particular season,
when Michael was gone,

that was the season
Phil did his best coaching.

Coach, I heard Chuck daly,
the other day say,

"let's see the triangle offense
work now without Michael."

- Did he really say that?
- Yeah.

Wait till I see Chuck.

Everybody criticizes
the triangle and says, "yeah, it works.

When you have Michael,
you know, then it works."

But that one year,

his star player was pippen,

who was not a scorer.

He's a facilitator.

Paxson looks down
the fioor. Got kerr and p/ppen baseline.

Kerr back to scottie.

And they ran the triangle
to perfection.

Toni k ukoc makes the move
on the baseline.

Back to I/I/ennington.
Paxson over to scottie.

Baseline, Steve kerr drives in.
Delivers to wennington.

His shot twirls around and goes in.

Another surprise for the bulls

has been the emergence
of rookie Toni k ukoc.

The international superstar from Croatia
came to the bulls

after a long courtsh/p by bulls
general manager Jerry k rause.

For those... for those...

For those of you
who are new to number 7...

Number 7, in Europe, is the most popular
number on the continent.

A lot of youngsters
want to be like Toni.

He was a typical European
player at that time,

who was an incredible shooter,

but defense is not his thing.

One-on-three and,
guess what, put it in.

Phil was very tough on him.

Well, I understood that part,
that coming here,

nothing's going to be given to me
just 'cause I was really good in Europe.

Like I say, you need the time
to prove some things to each other.

That season, we were winning a lot.

And the Chicago Bulls
will advance into round number two.

I felt, "okay, there is a chance

we might actually get to the NBA finals
without Michael."

We ended up playing
the Knicks in the east semis.

We were down 2-0 and we were trying
to get back in the series.

Patrick ewing made a shot with
about two seconds left to tie the game,

and we were at risk of losing
the whole series right there.

Chicago have taken
their last time-out

to set up a shot
with 7.8 seconds on the clock.

So, we come to the bench,
and I have this sequence

that Toni has run before,
and he's scored before on it.

I know he can do this.

I did hit a lot of last-second shots
during the season.

Here's a pick. Toni long three.

Scores./ -

Here's kukoc,
he hits on the left...

Toni got it.
Putting it up. Look out/ he got it/

so, anyway, I set this up,
and then scottie was angry about it.

I felt like it was an insult
coming from Phil.

I was the most dangerous guy
on our team,

so why are you asking me
to take the ball out?

This is a season where
he's taken the role of Michael.

He's had this mvp-caliber season.

He thought it should be him
taking the shot.

And, so, Jim cleamons
came over and said,

“scottie's not going in."

And then Phil said,
“what do you mean he's not going in?"

And I go down and said,
“are you in or out?" And he said...

"I'm out."

I remember Phil said,
"fuck him. Pete Myers, come on in."

And when pip refused
to go in that game,

it was like
a "twilight zone" moment, like,

"what the hell is going on?"

Scottie's going to sit here.

That's strange,
isn't it? Scottie would sit on this.

7.8 left,
no time-outs left for the bulls.

Myers tr/ggers the inbounds pass.

K ukoc for the win/

/t goes/ -

Bulls w/l7/ bulls win it/

k ukoc with the lifesa ver/

whoa, man/

what a basket by Toni k ukoc
at the buzzer!

Well, I was obviously happy
for making a shot,

but the whole situation,
even going towards the locker,

you see everybody is, like,

pissed that things are not right.

We don't know how to act,

'cause scottie's one
of our favorite teammates,

one of our favorite people
in the world, and he quit on us.

And that...
We couldn't believe that happened.

It was... it was devastating.

What he did, you know, you just...
You don't expect a teammate to do.

So, I go out
and just address it to the team.

"This is something that we never thought
would ever happen,

that we'd stop playing.

You know, it's affected us as a
whole team, scottie, that you did this."

What I remember most, though,
is bill Cartwright after the game.

Bill Cartwright gets up
and makes this speech...

Saying, "pip, you let us down.
I cannot believe."

And he started crying.

Tears coming down his face, and he said,

"scottie, I cannot believe
that you quit on us like that."

We had come too far
with that team to go out like that.

Scottie was in tears and upset
and he realized,

“I made a mistake. I thought I was
bigger than the game. I'm not."

And he apologized to us.

I think the worst part was that we knew
it was not scottie's character.

We knew that wasn't him.

And we knew it was going to be a stain
on his reputation.

The next day,
I get a call from Michael.

He said, “I don't know if scottie's
ever going to live this down."

It's always going to come back
to haunt him at some point,

in some conversation.

Pip knows better than that.

It's one of those incidents where,
you know, I wish it never happened,

but if I had a chance to do it over
again, I probably wouldn't change it.

The next couple of days
were really important.

We had to refocus and get back at it

for the rest of the series.

By Horace Grant,

who leads the team in blocks
in the playoffs.

Great passing! Oh, baby!

Scottie had a great series
and he turned things around.

Scottie p/ppen
just went over to tell spike Lee,

”here's a close-up. ”

We all respected his apology
and we moved fon/vard.

We came very close to making
a deep playoff run.

But we lost in seven games
to the Knicks in the garden.

It has been a wonderful run

for the Chicago Bulls franchise
this season,

despite the loss of Michael Jordan.

He wanted solitude
from the cameras

to watch his former mates'
final moments.

It's no different from a fan,
you know?

And it's Jordan, the fan,

who watches a replay
of the bulls' futile attempt.

I'd rather just do it privately
so it's, you know,

no "well, he's itching
to get back into the game,"

or, you know, none of that stuff.

Man, I'm happy to be where I am,
but I'm still a fan.

I like being around the game
and I like watching the game.

Aah!

Come on, fellas.

And here we are,

game 2 of the New Jersey nets
and the Chicago Bulls.

Cra wford's going to toss it up,
and we 're going to be under way.

P/ppen back.
Finds kerr all alone.

And that's what usually happens.

And a re verse slam by bill wennington!

Bill wennington!
Where did that come from?

Well, this is a real
shot in the arm for the Chicago Bulls.

Their bench much livelier today,
much more aggressive,

looking for their shots.

Chicago is going to take
the two games at home,

but it turns out to have been much
more difficult than they antic/pated

Coming up, game 3
of our best-of-five series.

And the bulls can pull
off the sweep ton/ght with a victory.

And filling the Lane
is burrell with the easy la y-in.

Burrell for another three.
And he's got it. Scott burrell.

What a game he's having.
Holy mackerel.

Burrell, 9 of 77, shooting 23 points.

Finishing touches. Jordan on point.

Time runs out.

And the Chicago Bulls
sweep a first-round series.

So, Scott burrell
with 23 points ton/ght.

Final score, 776— 707.

The bulls led by that man with 38.

One down and three to go

if the Chicago Bulls
are to claim NBA title number six,

the Jersey nets having been disposed of
in three stra/ght.

Next up are the Charlotte hornets.

We all know Michael's
tenacious on the court.

It was business
when it was on the court.

But he was a good guy
to be around off court.

You can relax around him off the court.

He's fun. He's enjoyable.

You like
that yes or no question? Yes.

And I had a follow-up
with him for that too.

Yeah, I know.
That's why I answered it "yes."

What's up, partner?

How you doing, Mike?

- Steve?
- Nice to meet you.

- You know this guy? What's your name?
- Jerry.

Jerry, nice to meet you.

- Can I get an autograph real quick?
- Sure.

I got some of your shoes. Appreciate it.

- Oh, you do?
- Hell yeah.

Can you sign this real quick?

And he'll pay you too.

- How long you in town?
- We don't know.

We might leave tonight, first thing...
We drove up from Connecticut, so...

- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah, we got about a 14-hour drive.

You know,
uconn has a great women's team.

You had to say that, didn't you?
So does Carolina though.

No, I mean, that's not a knock.

So does Carolina.

What's up with the men's program?

Off the floor,
he was going to be cordial,

he was going to be accepting,
he was going to be nice,

but as a teammate,
he had certain expectations.

Was he a nice guy?

He couldn't have been nice.

With that kind of mentality he had,
you can't be a nice guy.

He would be difficult to be around

if you didn't truly love
the game of basketball.

He is difficult.

Well, I mean... I don't know.

I mean...

Winning has a price.

And leadership has a price.

So I pulled people along
when they didn't want to be pulled.

I challenged people
when they don't want to be challenged.

And I earned that right
because my teammates came after me.

They didn't endure all the things
that I endured.

Michael Jordan is down in pain.

Michael Jordan got taken out. He's hurt.

And Jordan
came down hard and is injured

Well, the pistons have moved on,

but you've really got to feel
for this man right there.

I mean, playing his heart out.

Once you join the team,

you live at a certain standard
that I play the game,

and I wasn't going to take any less.

Now, if that means I had to go in there
and get in your ass a little bit,

then I did that.

You ask all my teammates,

the one thing about Michael Jordan was,

"he never asked me to do something
that he didn't fucking do."

When people see this,
they're going to say,

"well, he wasn't really a nice guy.
He may have been a tyrant."

Oh, well, that's you,

because you never won anything.

I wanted to win,

but I wanted them to win
and be a part of that as well.

Look, I don't have to do this.

I'm only doing it
because it is who I am.

That's how I played the game.

That was my mentality.

If you don't want to play that way,
don't play that way.

Break.