Over the last five weeks, The Last Dance documentary was appointment television for sports fans as they watched the story of Michael Jordan and the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls that won the franchise’s sixth NBA title.
On Tuesday night, Stephen A Smith was the executive producer and hosted a one-hour special on ABC called After The Dance, which looked back at the memorable moments from the documentary and allowed different guests to reflect on that time period. Smith brought on guests from both the sports and entertainment worlds to talk about their favorite Jordan moments.
The special began with Smith talking to Magic Johnson about Jordan’s competitiveness and the Lakers facing the Bulls in the 1991 NBA Finals, a series that the Bulls won in 5 games. Magic would end the show with Smith discussing the Jordan-LeBron James greatest of all-time debate.
Then, the conversation shifted to more of Jordan’s impact off the court. Smith spoke with Whoopi Goldberg from The View about his influence on the world of pop culture.
“I see someone who has taken a brand and pulled it up and through, who took the idea of us and animation and made it totally different,” Goldberg said of Jordan. “He touched everything on the planet and everyone wanted to get next to him.”
One of the more emotional parts of the documentary for people was Episode 5 when the 1998 All-Star Game was brought up and you saw the interview with the late Kobe Bryant about facing MJ. Smith had Shaquille O’Neal on the show to talk about both of their mentalities on the court.
“It’s pretty much equal. Kobe made a great point. We all look at players before us and we take a little bit from them. I am glad they had a relationship,” O’Neal said. “A lot of people always said who is the greatest in the game: Jordan or Lebron. I think you must respect Kobe’s name and add it to the conversation.”
From the broadcast side, we got to hear from Robin Roberts, who was an anchor on SportsCenter during MJ’s run and is now on Good Morning America. Roberts brought up her favorite memories of being around Jordan.
“The press conference before the 1992 Olympics. All of the legends are there,” she remembered. “MJ just kind of scratched his head and all of the cameras were flicking. It was amazing to see the reaction. I loved people watching him.”
Many characteristics of Jordan were emphasized in the documentary, including his competitive nature. That competitiveness showed on the court and it once occurred in a game of dominoes with Anthony Anderson from Blackish:
The documentary itself had a great ending, but Smith’s special reflecting on Jordan’s career and getting the thoughts from different perspectives was a good way to continue the conversation and reflect on all of the footage that we saw. As usual, Smith had a good way with words to wrap up the night.
“Jordan didn’t dance, as in dance around at all, He gave his take on the dynastic era through his lens and we all should love him for it… You can still indeed appreciate today’s greatness while still acknowledging it isn’t the good old days. Jordan did that for us at a time at a time when the sports world desperately needed it.”
