NBA
‘The Last Dance’ Redux: Michael Jordan Has a Rough Shooting Night Against His Future Team as the Bulls Take a Bad Loss to the Wizards to Drop to .500
Luke Norris began his sportswriting career in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2020. The former Section Editor of the NFL and Motorsports sections, he now spends his time here in the role of Senior Writer-Programmer. His well-rounded sports knowledge allows him to cover the NFL, NBA, PGA Tour, MLB, boxing, WWE, and NASCAR for Sportscasting. Luke is an avid golfer who finds inspiration in the way sports can bring people together and provide a distraction from the real world. He hopes to provide a little entertainment or an escape from the real world with every article he writes, even if only for a few minutes. In addition to his work here at Sportscasting, Luke's work has appeared on The Sportster, Inquisitr, GiveMeSport, FanSided, Yahoo! Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated.
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Coming off a horrible 21-point loss the previous night in Cleveland to the Cavaliers, the Chicago Bulls returned home to continue their “Last Dance” season with a matchup with Washington on November 12, 1997.
But what was supposed to be an easy win over the woeful Wizards turned into yet another disappointing defeat as the Bulls dropped to 4-4 with a 90-83 loss.
Michael Jordan scored a game-high 28 points but needed 28 attempts to get there, making just 10 of them to shoot 35.7%.
The only Bull to shoot worse on the night was Toni Kukoc, who made just four of 13 attempts en route to nine points. Luc Longley, however, played extremely well, making nine of 15 shots on the way to 21 points. Besides Jordan, he was the only other Bull in double figures.
Meanwhile, every member of the Wizards’ starting lineup hit double digits, led by Juwan Howard, who scored 18 points. His former “Fab Five” teammate Chris Webber added 17, as did Rod Strickland. Terry Davis and Calbert Cheaney chipped in with 10 each, and Tracy Murray added a dozen off the bench.
The biggest contributor for Chicago off the pine was Scott Burrell with eight points and six rebounds.
| Bulls | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Jordan | 28 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Dennis Rodman | 7 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Luc Longley | 21 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| Toni Kukoc | 9 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ron Harper | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Scott Burrell | 8 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| Steve Kerr | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Randy Brown | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Jason Caffey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Kleine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jud Buechler | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Wizards | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rod Strickland | 17 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Juwan Howard | 18 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Terry Davis | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Webber | 17 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Calbert Cheaney | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Tracy Murray | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Harvey Grant | 4 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Darvin Ham | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Whitney | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Here’s a look at the NBA standings following all the action on November 12, 1997.
| Eastern Conference | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Hawks | 8 | 0 |
| New Jersey Nets | 4 | 1 |
| Miami Heat | 5 | 2 |
| Charlotte Hornets | 4 | 2 |
| Milwaukee Bucks | 4 | 2 |
| New York Knicks | 5 | 3 |
| Chicago Bulls | 4 | 4 |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 3 | 3 |
| Orlando Magic | 3 | 4 |
| Washington Wizards | 3 | 4 |
| Detroit Pistons | 3 | 5 |
| Boston Celtics | 2 | 5 |
| Indiana Pacers | 2 | 5 |
| Philadelphia 76ers | 1 | 5 |
| Toronto Raptors | 1 | 6 |
| Western Conference | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| LA Lakers | 5 | 0 |
| San Antonio Spurs | 6 | 1 |
| Portland Trail Blazers | 5 | 1 |
| Phoenix Suns | 4 | 1 |
| Seattle Supersonics | 5 | 2 |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | 4 | 2 |
| Dallas Mavericks | 3 | 3 |
| Houston Rockets | 3 | 3 |
| Utah Jazz | 3 | 4 |
| Vancouver Grizzlies | 3 | 5 |
| Sacramento Kings | 2 | 5 |
| LA Clippers | 1 | 5 |
| Denver Nuggets | 0 | 6 |
| Golden State Warriors | 0 | 7 |
Following a loss to Michael Jordan’s future squad, up next for the “Last Dance” Bulls was a matchup with another team from MJ’s future, the Charlotte Hornets.
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