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Michael Jordan Told Pacers HC Larry Bird to Work on Golf Game After 1998 ECF
May 18, 2020
Nobody was safe from Michael Jordan's trash talk.
Larry Bird competed against Jordan and the Chicago Bulls from 1984 through 1992 with the Boston Celtics, and the two Hall of Famers were teammates on the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team." Bird's Boston Celtics swept Jordan's 30-52 Bulls out of the Eastern Conference first round in 1986.
None of that mattered to Jordan after the Bulls defeated the Bird-coached Indiana Pacers in the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals, as shown in The Last Dance Sunday night:
Chicago defeated the Pacers 4-3 to advance to the 1998 NBA Finals, where they topped the Utah Jazz 4-2 for the second straight year.
The Last Dance concluded with its ninth and 10th episodes Sunday night. The docuseries explored Jordan and other Bulls icons such as head coach Phil Jackson or fellow Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman as they worked toward the 1997-98 title run.
Jordan's trash-talking has been present in every episode:
The Bulls dynasty won six championships in the 1990s (1991, '92, '93, '96, '97, '98).
Bird captured three titles while playing with the Celtics. The 63-year-old retired following the 1991-92 campaign and became the Pacers head coach from 1997 to 2000.