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    Why Phil Jackson Needs ‘The Last Dance’

    Want more basketball in your inbox? Sign up for Marc Stein’s weekly N.B.A. newsletter here. When the Chicago Bulls were assembling a 72-10 season in 1995-96, Nick Nurse was a young Phil Jackson fan in England, earning roughly $20,000, along with housing and a car, as the new head coach of the Birmingham Bullets. His […] More

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    Is Michael Jordan Playing Defense in ‘The Last Dance’?

    Michael Jordan seemingly has everything. He toppled almost all of his foes as a player. There was his individual greatness. Team greatness. Much business greatness. So why, after all these years, would Jordan, who rarely gives interviews, take part in a lengthy documentary series rehashing his epic time with the Chicago Bulls? It’s the legacy. […] More

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    Who Was Jerry Krause?

    Every good narrative needs someone wearing the black hat, and in at least the first two episodes of “The Last Dance,” the ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan, that man is Jerry Krause. Who was Krause? And why did he play such a big, and contentious, part in the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty and Jordan’s career? What […] More

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    In ‘The Last Dance,’ Michael Jordan and the Bulls Still Dominate

    Right now, 10 hours of old playoff basketball should probably be broadcast with a trigger warning. Ten hours of Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls playoff basketball should probably come with a chaplain. For “The Last Dance” is 10 hours of all-time postseason sports. The documentary is ostensibly about the season that culminated in the team’s historic […] More

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    Liberty Select Sabrina Ionescu No. 1 in W.N.B.A. Draft

    The Liberty selected Sabrina Ionescu with the No. 1 overall pick in the W.N.B.A. draft on Friday, kicking off a refashioned “virtual” event for a league that has, like most sports around the world, been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The infusion of Ionescu and her star power into the W.N.B.A. comes amid a period […] More

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    No Dynasty Can Compare to Michael Jordan’s Bulls

    Want more basketball in your inbox? Sign up for Marc Stein’s weekly N.B.A. newsletter here. In a family that has amassed five N.B.A. championships, there are naturally strong basketball opinions. Andy Thompson didn’t win any of those rings, but he considers himself the only Thompson qualified to rank dynasties whenever his brother Mychal or his […] More

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    Liberty Trade Tina Charles to Mystics in Three-Team Deal

    The Liberty traded Tina Charles, a veteran All-Star center, to the Washington Mystics as part of a three-team deal on Wednesday, just days before they are widely expected to select Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu with the top pick in the W.N.B.A. draft. The Liberty received the 12th pick in this year’s W.N.B.A. draft from Washington as […] More