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NBA

Michael Jordan: 1997-98 title team knew it would be their 'Last Dance' together

By Ryan Gaydos Fox News
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Michael Jordan and the rest of the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls used the fuel of knowing it would be their final season together to propel them to the perfect ending – an NBA championship.

Jordan described the final season in a preview of the upcoming 10-part documentary “The Last Dance,” which is set to start Sunday, to “Good Morning America” on Thursday.

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“Mentally, it tugged at you that this had to come to an end, but it also centered our focus to making sure we ended it right,” Jordan told co-host Robin Roberts. “As sad as it sounded at the beginning of the year, we tried to rejoice and enjoy the year, and finish it off the right way.”

Jordan said the team knew it was going to be its last season together. The tension between Bulls general manager Jerry Krause and Phil Jackson grew larger leading up to the 1997-98 season. Krause reluctantly signed Jackson to a one-year extension.

“Krause told Phil Jackson that we could go 82-0 and he would never get a chance to come back,” Jordan said. “Knowing that I had married myself to him, and if he wasn’t going to be the coach, then obviously I wasn’t going to play [for the Bulls]. So Phil started off the season saying this was the last dance — and we played it that way."

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“We all were all trying to enjoy that year knowing it was coming to an end,” he said.

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Jordan was right. After the Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals, most of the team was gone the following season.

Tim Floyd, Jackson’s successor, was given a 13-win team the following season. Toni Kukoc, Brent Barry, Ron Harper, Randy Brown and Dickey Simpkins were among the top minutes-earners.