Isiah Thomas took a shot at Michael Jordan for complaining over hard fouls and didn’t mince his words when he described how the Chicago Bulls legend would react to the calls.
“Jordan, every time you hit him, he was crying,” Isiah told Boston Celtics’ Cedric Maxwell on the Cedric Maxwell Podcast.
“I was going to David Stern’s office, going to the commissioner’s office, having a meeting about getting hit and getting fouled, and then changing the rules.”
[Starts at 14:00]
He further added: “I’m like, wait a minute, I watched Dr. J get beat up. I watched Magic get beat up. I watched Max get beat up. I done got beat up. Now we gotta change the rules because he gets beat up?”
The style of play in the 80s and 90s basketball was all about striking fear in the opponents, and the Detroit Pistons, better known as the league’s “Bad Boys” played hard and were relentless when it came to putting the players through the wringer — something MJ knows well about.
Detroit Pistons Wanted To Physically Hurt Michael Jordan And The Chicago Bulls
The Detroit Pistons vs. Chicago Bulls may have very well been a slugging contest, given the amount of physicality involved. The end of the 80s meant the end of the flamboyant ball, and the 90s belonged to some machismo, courtesy of the Pistons who were determined to physically hurt Jordan and the Bulls.
As far as gameplans go, the Pistons were ready for Jordan. The infamous ‘Jordan Rules’ was simple, brutal, and effective. The former guard had revealed aptly described what the play to stop Jordan was.
“We had to do everything from a physicality standpoint to stop him,” Isiah said. “When he was in the air, we had no shot.”
Former Pistons coach Brandon Malone described the four-step ideology of the ‘Jordan Rules’ where he wasn’t allowed to drive to the baseline and that the wings would push him to the elbow.
He was tagged to the left when he was about to airborne, and step three was trapping from the top. The fourth was the master move — “Knock him to the ground”.
It wasn’t easy going down for Jordan. Not only was his scoring opportunity curbed, but ‘Air’ Jordan had his wings clipped by Detroit. He learned to take the hits eventually and that showed the greatness of the man.
In what was a very ‘Rocky’-like move, Jordan sized up, packed some muscle, and overcame the Pistons’ threat after losing to them for three consecutive playoffs in 1988, 1989, and 1990. He wasn’t allowed to be pummelled in 1991 and the Bulls took the fight to Detroit eventually beating them. In the end, it was Jordan ‘Rules’
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
