Detroit Pistons' Bad Boys: the Heel of the Bulls

     In sports (reality and fictional) there always is this one team (or player depending on the sport), that the team (or player) needs to get through like for the Indianapolis Colts it was the New England Patriots, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers it was the Philadelphia Eagles, for the Edmonton Oilers it was the New York Islanders, the Boston Celtics, and the Los Angeles Lakers had each other (didn't think I would do that did you?). For Jordan's Bulls, it was the Detroit Pistons aka the Bad Boys. The Bulls lost to their first two Eastern Conference Finals' appearances in 1989 and 1990 to the Pistons. You could blame them for the reason why the Bulls didn't win two more titles and Jordan could have won eight rings and also, we would have enjoyed another Michael and Magic Johnson finals matchup. The Bulls are take them to six games in 1989 and seven in 1990 and probably would have won there but Scottie Pippen had a migraine in game seven while also being guarded by Dennis Rodman. DAMN YOU PISTONS. OK maybe I shouldn't be too too critical of the Pistons because their owner at the time Bill Davidson was also the owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning when they were in the dumps. Things were bad for the Lightning at that time. I don't know if I can say he saved the Lightning but he probably did. He sold the team in better shape than when he bought them. In 2004, both the Lightning and the Pistons won championships. Probably the only owner to that could say that. Let's face it the Pistons wasn't just the heel of the Bulls, they were the heel of the entire NBA. People outside of Michigan HATED and I mean HATED the Pistons for their Aggressive, Physical Defensive. It was allowed back then during the Bad Boys days. Now, forget it. Now, to what the Bad Boys did, NBA Players today would receive a fine of 25K to 50K maybe more possibly a suspension. To think that the two main players of the Bad Boys were from Chicago. Isiah Thomas was born and raised in the West Side from Chicago which was a rough neighborhood to grow up in, he ended up going to Indiana University to play under Bobby Knight. He left after his sophomore season after winning the National Championship in 1981. When he was in the draft process he said in the 30 for 30 called Bad Boys that, he was going to be whatever he could to drop down to his hometown team the Bulls who had the 4th pick though they ended up trading the pick to the Atlanta Hawks for their 6th pick, unsure if that was before or after Isiah when the Pistons. Unfortunately (or fortunately because what Isiah would become with the Pistons), Pistons General Manager Jack McCloskey said I know what you're doing and I'm going the draft you anyway which he did. Then there's Bill Laimbeer who was actually born in Boston (also another place where he's hated), lived in Chicago for a time (in a much nicer neighborhood than Isiah), and then went to high school in California where he was a sleestak on the show "Land of the Lost" (and two other future NBA players were also Sleestaks, David Greenwood and John Lambert). Surprised Laimbeer didn't end up going into acting after his career though he did have an appearance Forget Paris, a romantic comedy where Billy Crystal plays an NBA Referee. Laimbeer would have been perfect for Space Jam (or would that been too soon?). He ended up at Notre Dame though he spent two semesters at Owens Techincal College to get his grades up. Didn't do much, only average 7.3 points per game and 6 rebounds in a bench role in his last two years at Notre Dame. Despite his limited playing time, Laimbeer was draft in the third round by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1979.  He started his Pro Career in Italy for a year before joining the Cavs in 1980. Played there for one and a half a season before getting traded to the Pistons joining forces with Isiah. Then they added Rick Mahorn, Joe Dumars, John Salley, Dennis Rodman, Adrian Dantley among others. When the Pistons hired Chuck Daly to be their head coach in 1983, they became a consistent playoff team and by Chuck's fourth year, it looked like the Pistons were going to beat the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1987. It didn't happen because late in Game 5, Isiah inbounded the ball quickly instead of taking his time to look for whose open and where Larry Bird is, Isiah passed the ball which was intercepted by Bird and he passed to Dennis Johnson who scored the game-winning layup. The Pistons ended up losing in 7 games. Then there was next season where they made it the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers after getting past the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and where the Celtics didn't shake their hands except for Kevin McHale who Isiah chased down. The Pistons were again close to beat the opponents to win the series but once again disaster struck as Laimbeer was called for a foul on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar which people mostly in Michigan think it was a phantom call. Maybe it was because it was the Lakers, maybe it was because of the Pistons, maybe it was a foul. Whatever, it was Laimbeer fouled out, Kareem hit both free throws, and the Lakers won the game and then the series to win their two straight titles. I don't care what team it is, losing back to back playoffs series like the Pistons did hurts. Like the 1986 and 1987 Cleveland Browns teams and recently the New Orleans Saints the last three seasons. Those losses suck. However, the Bad Boys bounced back and won back to back titles against the Lakers in 1989 and the Portland Trail Blazers in 1990 in the expanse of the Bulls. A cross between the Bulls workout the offseason solely to beat the Pistons and the Pistons were getting old (and losing Rick Mahorn to the expansion draft after the first title also hurt) were the reasons that the Bulls in the third matchup in the Eastern Conference Finals swept the Pistons in 1991 and the Pistons became straight-up bitches (Thanks Horace Grant) by not shaking the hands of the Bulls as the Pistons on the bench which included Isiah and Laimbeer. Granted the Celtics did the same thing do the Pistons three years earlier but two wrong don't make a right plus Jordan said they (the Bulls) did shake hands with the Pistons when they lost against the Pistons. Laimbeer admitted in the Bad Boys 30 for 30 doc that he was the leader in the walk-off and doesn't regret it. However, Isiah probably does because this was done as the USA Basketball was picking the first USA of mostly NBA players and Isiah didn't get picked. It wasn't the main reason but it didn't help. Also, it didn't help that Isiah Thomas was an asshole. He implied that Magic Johnson was gay after Magic announced he was HIV positive even though Isiah lost one of his brothers to HIV/AIDS because of drug addiction. Seriously dude? Also, he pissed off Bird, Jordan, and Scottie and I'm sure there are other players from the Dream Team that didn't want Isiah on the team. It sucks for him also that he made the 1980 USA team only to not go to the Olympics because the United States along with other countries boycotted the Moscow games to protest their invasion of Afghanistan (the irony). His talent there was no question about it, should have been in the team based on his talent and career but personally, not many players liked him. Ultimately, Isiah screwed himself. The irony was Chuck Daly, his coach in Detroit was the Dream Team coach whose everyone loved (which was odd considering he was the Bad Boys coach). I'm sure he loved Isiah but probably knew better to have Isiah on the team. When Stockton got injured, Daly considered calling Joe Dumars not Isiah. Felt bad for Daly because I'm sure he would have wanted Isiah to join the Dream Team but I'm sure he didn't try a revolt if he did. After the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons went the way the Celtics and Lakers did and grow old and being a shadow of their former selves. It happens in dynasties, the team get built, became good, winning titles, grow old, and going down the standings. If it wasn't for them, Jordan and the Bulls don't become the team they became. Also, it prepared them for the New York Knicks in the early 1990's. Guessing Pat Riley took notes during those battles with those Piston teams. Honestly, I think it would have been nice if Michael and Magic faced off in another final and I'm sure Michael would have loved faced off against Trail Blazers again in the finals I'm sure Doug Collins would have love to at least win a championship before being fired by Jerry Krause. Also, even if the Bulls 1988-89 team won against the Pistons and later the Lakers, I think Krause would have fired Collins. He wanted the triangle offense to applied to the Bulls and Collins wouldn't run it so Phil Jackson would have been the coach regardless. Also, Collins had a feeling Phil would coach the Bulls. Well, it was what it was. The Pistons had their time and The Bulls had theirs.