Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information / Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. ^ Back to Top ^ © 2021 ESPN Internet Ventures. "We knew we whipped their ass already, we'd gotten past them, and that, to me, that was better in some ways than winning a championship." "But they didn't have to shake our hands," Jordan said of the Pistons. Jordan then smiled and revealed how much it meant to him to beat the Pistons at long last and earn his first trip to the NBA Finals, where he and the Bulls captured their first of six championships by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in 1991. That's sportsmanship, no matter how much it hurts. There's a certain respect to the game that we pay to them. Two years in a row, we shook their hands when they beat us. "All you have to do, go back to us losing in Game 7 ," Jordan said. There's no way you're going to convince me he wasn't an a-hole."Īfter watching Thomas, Jordan rolled his eyes and pointed out that the Bulls paid their respects to the Pistons in previous years. "He's had time enough to think about it - or the reaction of the public that's kind of changed his perspective of it. "Whatever he says now, you know it wasn't his true actions then," Jordan said. But before he played it, Jordan said, "Well, I know it's all bulls. The director of the documentary, Jason Hehir, let Jordan watch video of Thomas' explanation. But during that period of time, that's just not how was passed. "'Hey, congratulations.' 'Love you, man.' 'Love you.' 'Hey, congratulations,'" Thomas said sarcastically. Thomas then imitated players in today's game, who are viewed by some as being too friendly with the competition. "Knowing what we know now and the aftermath that took place, I think all of us would have stopped and said congratulations like they do now." "To us, that was OK," Thomas said, looking back on the Celtics' leaving the court while there was time left on the clock, rather than exchanging pleasantries. Thomas defended his team's actions, noting that the Boston Celtics conducted themselves in a similar manner when the Pistons beat them in the 1988 conference finals. But all that whining they did, I didn't want to shake their hand. And that really stuck with me because they didn't knew who we were or what we were about as individuals and our family life. "They whined and cried for a year and a half about how bad we were for the game, but more importantly, they said we were bad people," Laimbeer told ESPN's Rachel Nichols in a recent interview. Laimbeer, to this day, is comfortable with the choice that was made and thinks that the Bulls don't get enough criticism for how they comported themselves. We just kicked your ass, go ahead and go." "Straight-up b-es," Bulls forward Horace Grant said in Episode 4 of the decision by Detroit. Thomas was part of the procession, slightly ducking his head as he walked by the Chicago bench en route to the tunnel to exit. With 7.9 seconds remaining in the Bulls' 21-point rout to end the series, the Pistons - at the behest of big man Bill Laimbeer, according to Thomas - walked off the court without shaking the Bulls players' hands or congratulating them on advancing. The Bulls finally broke through in the 1991 conference finals, and they did so in dominant fashion, sweeping Detroit 4-0 to deliver an unceremonious end to the Pistons' back-to-back championship reign. "We had to do everything from a physicality standpoint to stop him." "We knew Michael Jordan is the greatest player, and we tried to use it as a rallying cry to come together," Pistons star Isiah Thomas said in Episode 3. Jordan and the Bulls lost to the Pistons in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1988, in six games in the conference finals in 1989 (after holding a 2-1 lead) and in seven games in the conference finals in 1990.Īlong the way, the Pistons tormented Chicago's high-scoring shooting guard, employing a bruising style of defense that came to be known as "The Jordan Rules." "And that hate carries even to this day." "Oh, I hated them," Jordan said in Episode 3 of the ESPN docuseries "The Last Dance," which aired Sunday. More than three decades after the Detroit Pistons stalled Michael Jordan's ascending stardom by bouncing the Chicago Bulls from the playoffs in three straight postseasons, Jordan admitted that he still harbors animosity for the "Bad Boys" team that threatened to derail his success. Michael Jordan says he still hates the 'Bad Boys' Detroit Pistons
BAD BOYS PISTONS UPGRADE
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