Wayback Wednesday: 25 Years Since The Last Dance

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m reflecting on it being 25 years since the Chicago Bulls’ sixth championship, aka The Last Dance.

I admire fans who continue to support teams that haven’t won a championship, or even had the opportunity to compete for one by making it through to the NBA Finals. As rough as it’s been to be a Chicago Bulls fan in the 21st century, I’m comforted by the memories of watching their incredible run in the 90s. That’s not to say that I don’t want to see them get back there, but I had it pretty good growing up as a Bulls fan; far better than fans of most other teams! As such, with so many bandwagoners, and fans that follow players rather than teams, I respect loyalty to clubs despite tough times.

Of course, those memories of the glory days are getting further into the past! To put it into perspective, there were fewer years between Bill Russell’s last championship and Michael Jordan’s first, than there are between MJ’s first ring and today. Sure, that’s just how the passage of time works, but it doesn’t make it any less wild to get your head around! As the 2000s became the 2010s, and the 2010s became the 2020s, every Bulls title began passing milestones that would’ve felt like such a long time ago to a kid like me in the 90s. As an adult in 2023, it seems like it was only yesterday! And now, The Last Dance is a quarter of a century old. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Obviously, the Bulls’ sixth championship is particularly famous due to the release of “The Last Dance”. The documentary took its title from the name that Phil Jackson gave to the season before it tipped off, as he knew that it would likely be their last year together before the team was broken up. It told stories that weren’t covered by “Unforgetta-Bulls“, the official home video recapping Chicago’s season. It’s led to memes, heated debates, and Scottie Pippen losing his mind. I remember a clearly anti-MJ NBA 2K YouTuber telling his audience not to watch or believe the “propaganda”. Suffice to say, that video immediately lost my interest, and earned my thumbs down!

Kids these days, right? Well, it’s not just people younger than me. The Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan in particular have their haters too, and more than a couple of “old heads” were also fuming about a documentary that celebrated MJ and those teams. They threw the word “propaganda” around as well, as if there aren’t talking heads today pushing their own narratives on a daily basis, bashing the past to prop up the now. I guarantee that some of those people were the ones writing in to magazines back in 1997, bleating about how they wanted to see the Bulls fail, and celebrating their slow start to the season. As a teenage Bulls and MJ fan, I hated those letters!

With that being said, let’s flash back to 1997. It was a fantastic time to be a Bulls fan! Although they obviously didn’t go undefeated, it felt like they could win every game, to the point where losses were surprising. There was an underlying confidence that no matter what, they’d emerge as the champions come June. After all, that was the result whenever they made the Finals, which by that point they’d already done five times in seven years. The 1998 season did have a different feel, though. There was talk of how they were getting older, and that their time was drawing to a close as the suits eyed a rebuilding phase. MJ, Jax, and co. clearly knew it was very likely The Last Dance.

That set the stage for it to be a memorable campaign, win or lose. For me, it was also a special season because I was able to follow the action closer than ever before. Not only was I watching NBA Action and every game that was shown here in Australia, reading magazines, and collecting trading cards, but now I could jump online for even more coverage. My family got the internet in August 1997, so I didn’t have to wait as long to check the standings and league leaders, or get the latest news. It also led me to discover this very site, and change the way I played basketball video games forever. That was also important as I followed the Bulls’ journey to their sixth championship.

At the time, our family PC was a few years old, and technology had marched on since we got it for Christmas 1994. I wasn’t able to run NBA Live 98, but now I had the tools to update NBA Live 96 PC for the 1998 season. Like most basketball gamers back then, I’d already dabbled with updating an old game with new season rosters long before I got online. However, seeing what other people had done, and getting the tools to try my hand at doing it myself, inspired me to take up a new hobby in roster modding. I also tried to emulate the 1998 campaign in my own Season, even going so far as to intentionally lose the opener to start out the same way as the real Bulls had!

The 1998 season wasn’t just the swansong for the Bulls’ dynasty. Many of the stars of the 80s and 90s, who were now the elder statesmen of the league, were entering the twilight of their careers. New stars were emerging, and the 1998 All-Star Game in particular felt like a celebration of both some of the soon-to-be Hall of Famers, and a few of the names that would soon carry on the torch. As for the Bulls’ season, I recall logging on to NBA.com and checking every box score, hoping to see Pippen back in action. When he returned and they hit their stride, it strengthened my confidence in their ability to threepeat, which had been shaken a little when they struggled early on.

To say that I was heavily invested in seeing the Bulls win the championship once more would be a massive understatement! I was thirteen going on fourteen, and I was obsessed with basketball. That’s still in the age range that Yahtzee aptly described as “that wonderful nostalgic period in most people’s lives when they’re just old enough to properly appreciate their entertainment, but not yet old enough to be cynical about it”. Basketball, gaming, and basketball gaming, were a refuge from the ups and downs of adolescence. If school had been rough, or general teenage angst was getting me down, a weekly dose of basketball and Bulls highlights were just what I needed.

Ultimately, we got the storybook ending with Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. MJ’s magnificent performance in the final minutes, putting the team on his back one last time, hitting that gamewinning shot, leaping into the air and then holding up six fingers…goose bumps, even 25 years later! While his comeback with the Wizards did allow him to accumulate a few more accolades, and hardly diminishes what came beforehand, it’s a shame that the last shot from The Last Dance wouldn’t be the true end of his story. Like Bill Russell’s Celtics winning the 1969 title against all odds, it was a perfect way to wrap up one of the greatest careers in the history of basketball.

Getting to watch The Last Dance as it happened was an absolute joy, even if – or indeed, because – there were times that the championship didn’t feel like a foregone conclusion. Years before the documentary was made, I’d go back and watch games and highlights. Video games also provided a means of reliving those glorious times. There was retro gaming and retro season mods, though I often focused on making rosters for 1996 rather than 1998. And then, NBA 2K11 delivered the first iteration of the Jordan Challenge. While it was a celebration spanning the length of MJ’s Bulls career, I was immediately drawn to the challenge set in Game 6 of the 1998 Finals.

The Jordan Challenge came along at just the right time. Nostalgia for the 90s was starting to come into vogue, and we hadn’t yet reached a point where pundits were prone to trash talking past eras. As someone in their mid 20s, it definitely appealed to me. Michael Jordan infamously wasn’t in any games during the second threepeat (with the exception of Space Jam), so modding and customisation were the only ways to partake in The Last Dance on the virtual hardwood as it happened. I was enjoying the Bulls’ resurgence in 2010 after the bleak years in the wake of The Last Dance, but I’d also reached an age where I not only appreciated nostalgia, but actively sought it out.

I’m glad that the 1998 Bulls have been retained in the selection of classic teams in NBA 2K12 and beyond, along with the 1998 Utah Jazz. In fact, while I do believe they could be replaced with other squads that are more significant to their franchises, I also like having the 1998 Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs in NBA 2K. Every so often, I’ll put two of those teams on the floor to re-create a matchup from the 1998 season. Obviously, mods allow us to replay The Last Dance in greater detail if the mood strikes. If MyNBA Eras continues to expand, then I’d definitely suggest the 1998 season as another great starting point to include, given its historical significance.

I’ll admit that it probably shouldn’t bug me as much as it does when I see fans and pundits dumping on the 90s and Michael Jordan. I was watching at the time, so I know that it’s nonsense. However, I am bothered by the disrespect, because that’s not the attitude that was instilled in us as young fans back then. We were taught to admire and respect the feats of past greats, even if we did still say that MJ was the GOAT, and what was then the present day was a Golden Age. It’s laughable to suggest that the documentary was the result of insecurity, or that it’s propaganda, when so many talking heads these days push narratives and make excuses for their chosen guy!

For everyone who is interested in NBA history, The Last Dance is a documentary that’s worth watching. For those of us who remember that time, there are probably a few new things to learn, and plenty of great moments to relive. With all the talk of “plumbers and dentists”, with all the ways that pundits are lowering the bar to prop up the current NBA with some truly ludicrous assertions, a documentary that pushes back is not only welcome, but necessary. You can shut your eyes and put your fingers in your ears, toss around terms like “old head”, and cherry-pick statistics that suit your narrative, but people who know basketball realise how truly special that era was.

And now, that season for the ages is 25 years in the past. It’s become cliché to say that it feels like the 90s were only ten years ago. We were saying that when “ten years ago” was actually the mid 2000s, and we’re still saying it now that it refers to the mid 2010s. The older I get though, the more I realise that it’s absolutely true that the years seem to run together, changing our perspective of “a long time”. It didn’t quite feel real when 2011 marked 20 years since the first Bulls championship. Now that’s 32 years ago, and it’s been 25 years since their last title. Not to shoehorn an overdone 90s reference into this retrospective of a 90s event, but to quote Neo in The Matrix: whoa.

I’ve reached an age where the passage of time since personal milestones and treasured memories is being measured in decades. Just last year, I attended my 20-year high school reunion, which was a lovely evening catching up with some old friends. At the same time, friends that I’ve made as an adult have been in my life for over a decade now. As for some of my all-time favourite video games, the original NBA Jam turned 30 in April, and NBA Live reaches that mark next year; we’ll see what happens as far any celebrations are concerned. When it comes to the real NBA, it feels like I’ve seen at least a couple of distinct generations of players come and go since I got into hoops.

There’s something different about The Last Dance happening 25 years ago though, and it’s not just the noteworthy number. A huge moment in my basketball fandom, and a time that I remember well, is to much younger fans the equivalent of what Bill Russell’s last championship is to me: a milestone moment in the history of the NBA, yes, but something experienced through archival footage and documentaries rather than firsthand. When I was watching the 2003 NBA Finals, The Last Dance was still recent history. Even in 2013, it was still “within the last 20 years”. In 2023, it’s been a quarter of a century since the 1998 Finals! It’s unquestionably “vintage NBA”, now.

Obviously, there’s an element of existential dread and wrapping my mind around the fact that I’m closer to middle age than being a teenager that’s a factor here. However, there’s also the realisation of how long it’s been since the Bulls were true contenders. Twenty years since the first title? Fine, there were five more after that. Now, even the “youngest” Chicago Bulls championship – and the one that I followed closer than any before it – is becoming a speck in the proverbial rear view mirror. As I said, having those memories of Michael Jordan and the Bulls’ titles makes it easier to stomach some of the tough times since, but it’d be nice if I didn’t have to go back that far!

I realise that these are personal recollections of The Last Dance and its significance to me, rather than a detailed recap of the championship season itself. It was never my intention to provide the latter. That story has already been told in great detail, such as in the eponymous documentary from 2020. Once again, despite what some kid might claim, it is absolutely worth watching; especially with all the talk these days about “appreciating greatness”. If you’re serious about that sentiment, then watch The Last Dance. It may or may not influence your opinion in the GOAT debate, but then again, if you’re so sure that it isn’t MJ, then you shouldn’t be afraid of any counterarguments!

As for my nostalgia, while it can be overwhelming to realise that what feels like only yesterday was actually 25 years ago, I do enjoy celebrating milestones like this. I’m grateful that by the time I became a basketball fan, the NBA was well-established and successful. There’s no lost footage, or big games that went untelevised. We can relive that era through highlights and full games, on-demand. It can even be an interactive experience thanks to video games! To me, The Last Dance isn’t just the highest-rated NBA Finals, or the swansong of a legendary team, or a documentary that has fuelled debates. It’s a host of wonderful memories that still bring me joy, 25 years later.

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