The level of physicality during the 1980s and the 1990s cannot be understated. Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons were explicitly known for their rough style of basketball.
Evidently, Pistons players regularly got into fights with their opponents. One such example of it was Isiah Thomas‘ brawl with Chicago Bulls’ Bill Cartwright. Zeke recently spoke about the infamous fight in a recent episode of ‘All The Smoke’ podcast.
“My little left hand was up in there and I went to plant,” Thomas said. “I’m glad I slipped because I went to plant, and when I went to plant, he was still rushing. And by him being big and coming in, I was gonna drive that nose bone right up to his brain. … Then you’ll see me just rush up into him.”
(Starts at 12:07)
Thomas showed his fearless side when fighting against Bill Cartwright, who is a towering 7’1″. If the fight hadn’t been broken up, Isiah could have gotten hurt pretty badly.
As Thomas said in the interview, he didn’t back down from the fight. That just shows the level of physicality in the NBA during the 80s. Zeke may not have engaged in a fight with Cartwright if he didn’t play for the Bulls. After all, we are aware of the bad blood between the Pistons and the Bulls.
Isiah Thomas Opened Up On The Reputation Of The ‘Bad Boys’ Pistons
There is a difference between being known for being physical and flat-out and trying to hurt your opposing team. The Pistons during the 1980s had the latter reputation.
Well, one cannot be blamed for thinking, as many players from the ‘Bad Boys’ Pistons did admit to wanting to hurt Michael Jordan physically.
But according to Thomas, the Pistons were misunderstood by the media and fans. He believes the Pistons were just hitting back at their opponents.
At the end of the day, the reason behind that reputation is the Pistons being physical against MJ and the Chicago Bulls. Jordan is considered to be the greatest player of all time, and trying to hurt him would obviously make them the villain.
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