Scottie Pippen, Horrace Grant, many have rebelled about the event documentary The Last Dance broadcast on ESPN , which deals with the last season of Michael Jordan at the Chicago Bulls between 1997 and 1998. On CBS , the journalist at Chicago Column Sam Smith, author of the book " The Jordan Rules", and who has followed the Bulls closely for many years, exposed Jordan's lies regarding certain passages in the series. "There are several things in the documentary that, to my knowledge, are either invented or distorted," says Smith. They weren't important things, but the documentary looks like one of those TV movies that claims to be based on actual events. That's what it is: something based on a true story. "
A story-telling rather than a documentary
In the journalist's line of sight, the story of the Flu Game (“the flu match” literally) in particular. In the fifth game of the 1997 NBA Finals against Utah, Jordan appeared weak, close to fainting. Despite this, he had scored 38 points and launched his team to the title. We then talked about a flu, but staff members will reveal much later that the state of the champion is due to food poisoning due to a pizza, a version confirmed by Jordan. "The pizza thing made no sense. There was something else, "Smith says.
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But his main criticism concerns the second retirement of " His Airness " in January 1999. Jordan explains that he was pushed out by the owner of the franchise, Jerry Reinsdorf. “The end (of the documentary) is a blatant lie. He would have left when he didn't want to. Do you think he was forced to leave? Who is forcing Jordan to do anything? The lie is obvious, but hey ... it's part of Michael's myth. "
The fact remains that the series was a resounding success, so much so that ESPN would like to do the same with another icon of US sport, Tom Brady, the legendary quarterback of the New England Patriots. With 5.6 million viewers on average per episode, The Last Dance has become the most watched documentary in ESPN's history .
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