No team had more success against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls than the ‘Bad Boys’ Detroit Pistons. The Pistons implemented the infamous Jordan Rules to slow down the electrifying guard and John Salley, who was a part of that team, explained what they were all about.
“My teammates are going to be really pissed off but I’m going to tell you, the Jordan rules: F*** him up. No, I’m joking,” Salley said on Gil’s Arena. “… The Jordan Rules were this. We knew he was gonna put the ball on the ground, right? And everybody saw this and we said it, our deal is to push him left.
“They said, ‘Well, he can’t go left.’ He can, he’s just going to put it in his right hand, but he can go left,” Salley continued. “We knew that Joe Dumars was 215-220 pounds, Michael was 190-205 or something like that. We knew that if we came in big, he was going to try to shoot over us. He was not going to pass it. The difference is LeBron (James) can see over us, so we knew that we take away their one threat, the rest of the guys didn’t have what it took to beat us.”
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The Jordan Rules were reportedly devised in 1988 after Jordan had scored 59 points against the Pistons in a game in April. When the two teams met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals that year, the Pistons implemented it to beat the Bulls in five games.
While the general public believed the strategy was all about beating up on Jordan, Salley stated there was more to that. The two teams then met in the playoffs the following year too and the Pistons once again emerged victorious, this time in six games.
After those playoffs, the Bulls made Phil Jackson their head coach in 1989. Salley stated that Jackson’s triangle offense made it harder for them to slow down Jordan, but when the teams met in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1990, the Pistons managed to prevail in seven games.
It would, however, prove to be their last triumph in the playoffs over Jordan and the Bulls. When the teams met again for the fourth straight year in the playoffs in 1991, Chicago swept Detroit to advance to the NBA Finals.
Salley stated during this episode that the only reason he believes Jordan and the Bulls beat them in 1991 was because they were tired. I think it is a bit unfair to put that all down to tiredness. The Pistons had made it all the way to the Conference Finals and the Bulls deserve a lot of credit for sweeping them there.
Isiah Thomas’ Explanation Of The Jordan Rules
Salley is far from the first Pistons player to speak about the strategy they employed back then. Isiah Thomas also explained in great detail, what the Jordan Rules were.
“Jordan was a reluctant passer,” Thomas said. “He didn’t like to pass. He was the first volume shooter. He wasn’t like, now you see kids that got great handles and all that, he didn’t, he didn’t have great handles. Couldn’t go left, and if he went left more than two-three times, he had to pick it up.
“So, the rules were very simple – left side of the floor, send him left. Right side of the floor, send him left. In the middle, send him left. Now, when he’s going left, we wanted the trap to be visible. So, I’m going left, and the first person that he sees now, is running at him. And you, as a defender, your job is to take away his right hand because now, as a passer, we want that ball going in the air. And if the ball goes in the air, we’re quick enough to rotate and get back and match up.
“So, as that defender leaves to come trap off the baseline or from the top, second defender, your job is to rotate to cover. Now, we want that pass going in the air across court. Jordan didn’t want to pass, so what would he do? He would shoot. And guess what he would do? He would miss.”
Sending Jordan left certainly was a big part of that plan. A former Pistons coach described the Jordan Rules as a four-step defensive strategy and he too spoke on sending him to the left. It worked for a while, but even the Pistons could only hold him down for so long.
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