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The Last Dance finale: Episodes 9 and 10 start time, schedule, how to watch without cable

The Michael Jordan documentary concludes this Sunday with the last two episodes.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
Expertise Laptops, desktops, all-in-one PCs, streaming devices, streaming platforms
Matt Elliott
3 min read
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ESPN

After Magic Johnson and Larry Bird ruled the 1980s and ushered in the modern NBA , Michael Jordan took over in the '90s, winning six titles and becoming not just the greatest basketball player of all time, but one of the most thrilling athletes in any sport ever. And now you can relive his sixth and final championship season with the Chicago Bulls in The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary on ESPN. The series began four weeks ago and concludes on Sunday, May 17 with the final two episodes.

The documentary was originally scheduled to debut in June around the time of the NBA Finals, but with sports and everything else at a standstill due to the coronavirus, ESPN moved up its release. Two episodes have aired each Sunday for the last four weeks, with the final two scheduled for this Sunday. The Last Dance is shown on ESPN for US viewers and Netflix for those outside the US. If you plan to watch with your kids, you should know that the documentary contains adult language; an edited version is shown on ESPN2 at the same time the unedited version airs on ESPN. 

The Last Dance is not available on the ESPN Plus or Disney Plus streaming platforms. 

The documentary is directed by Jason Hehir, who is no stranger to 1990s basketball icons. He helmed The Fab Five documentary about the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team that started five freshmen in the 1991-92 season. He also directed the brilliant André the Giant documentary, which HBO said was its most-watched sports documentary ever.

The Last Dance combines present-day interviews with new archival footage from the 1997-98 NBA season. Jordan, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and head coach Phil Jackson agreed to let an NBA Entertainment crew film the team during the season, which turned out to be the last of the Bulls' dynasty. In addition to Jordan, the 1997-98 team featured Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, as well as key reserve Steve Kerr, who is now the head coach of the Golden State Warriors.

Watch this: Live TV streaming services for cord cutters: How to choose the best one for you

Broadcast schedule for The Last Dance

Two episodes have been shown on ESPN and ESPN2 each Sunday evening, with the previous two episodes getting replayed each Sunday before the two new episodes air. Here's the broadcast schedule for the last two episodes:

Sunday, May 17

  • Episode 7 (rebroadcast): 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT)
  • Episode 8 (rebroadcast) : 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT)
  • Episode 9: 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT)
  • Episode 10: 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT)

For viewers outside of the US, episodes 9 and 10 will be available to stream on Netflix five hours after they're shown on ESPN, beginning at 3:01 a.m. ET (8:01 a.m. UK, 5 p.m. AEST) on Monday, May 18.

How to watch The Last Dance

As well as watching on TV, you can also watch The Last Dance after each episode airs on ESPN.com or the ESPN app, but you will need to log in with a pay TV account. If you don't have a pay TV subscription, you can watch the documentary with a live-TV streaming service.

Sling TV's $30-a-month Orange plan includes ESPN and ESPN2. (Sling's free primetime offer features only its ESPN-less Blue plan.) Sling's packages are discounted by $10 for the first month.

Read our Sling TV review.

YouTube TV costs $50 a month and includes ESPN and ESPN2.

Read our YouTube TV review.

Hulu with Live TV costs $55 a month and includes ESPN and ESPN2.

Read our Hulu with Live TV review.

AT&T TV Now's basic $55-a-month Plus package includes ESPN and ESPN2.

Read our AT&T TV Now review.

All of the live TV streaming services above offer free trials, allow you to cancel anytime, and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our massive streaming services guide.

How can I get these services on my TV?

These services are widely available on game consoles and smart TVs , but if you need to add them to an older TV, add-on options like Roku and Fire TV start for as little as $30.

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