ESPN's Michael Jordan 'The Last Dance' Averaged 5.1M Viewers for Episodes 7, 8

ESPN's documentary miniseries on the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls, The Last Dance, continued its solid string of ratings.

Per Isabelle Lopez of ESPN Press Room, Sunday's Episodes 7 and 8 "averaged 5.1 million viewers across ESPN & ESPN2 from 9-11 p.m. ET, with episode 7 (9-10 p.m.) averaging 5.3 million viewers and episode 8 (10-11 p.m.) averaging 4.9 million viewers, based on initial Nielsen reporting."  

Episodes 7 and 8 focused on the murder of Jordan's father, James Jordan Sr., his retirement from basketball to briefly pursue a career in professional baseball and the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of his father and that first retirement. 

It also took a closer look at the Jordan-less Bulls, led by Scottie Pippen, including Pippen's notorious decision to sit out the final 1.8 seconds of Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Knicks. Pippen was incensed that head coach Phil Jackson drew up the final play of the game for Toni Kukoc, not him, and he refused to re-enter the game.

Kukoc hit the shot, and the moment remains one of the few stains on Pippen's otherwise sterling career. 

Finally, the episode examined Jordan's return to the Bulls, the team's then-record 72-10 mark in the 1995-96 season and its NBA Finals win over the Seattle SuperSonics. And as always, it followed the team through the 1997-98 season, namely focusing on the team's first two playoff series wins that year. 

The conclusion of Episode 7 also included Jordan getting emotional when talking about his intensity and his tendency to be hard on his teammates in an effort to get the best out of them:

There are now just two episodes of The Last Dance remaining, a bummer for sports fans who have been happy to have the documentary miniseries fill the sports void left by most leagues remaining on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.