Won it the right way

One of the fascinating threads in “The Last Dance” documentary is the set of changes that took the Chicago Bulls from being a top-two team in the Eastern Conference to arguably the greatest team of several generations. They had lost to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals two years in a row. Three things changed. (1) They took the loss seriously. Most of the team, led by Jordan, gave up their summer break and got back in the gym. The Pistons had bullied them – they resolved to get strong enough that it wouldn’t happen again. You see the result in a moment from the next season’s Eastern Conference Finals: Dennis Rodman commits a flagrant foul on Pippen, nearly pushing him into the benches. Pippen gets up and moves on as if nothing happened. That’s when the Pistons knew they couldn’t shake the Bulls. (2) Phil Jackson installed the triangle offense. Moving away from a Jordan-centric offense meant Jordan wouldn’t be the leading scorer every night. It was painful for him –…