Isiah Thomas remains very active on social media, talking about his most famous moments during his NBA career and the most infamous controversies he starred in.
Earlier today, the Detroit Pistons legend shared an old quote from Larry Bird to explain how legends took defeats in the 80s and 90s, pretty implying this is why he didn’t shake hands with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in 1991.
“I didn’t shake hands when we lost to the Lakers,” recalled Bird, now the Pacers’ president. “I never shook hands. When the Lakers and Celtics played, we didn’t shake hands. When I first got to play against Magic, there was a hate factor there. It was more than just dislike.”
https://twitter.com/IsiahThomas/status/1644354618346946560
This was a common practice back in the day, as it was explained by John Salley, who was shocked when seeing the Celtics players walk off the court following a defeat against the Pistons.
“The Detroit Pistons were defeating Boston Celtics 4-2 and before the buzzer, Celtics players walked off the court. Adrian Dantley was on the foul line, Celtics players start moving out and the rest is history.
“All of a sudden all the Celtics start walking through us as the guys are on the foul line,” John Salley described. The 1988 Celtics including Larry Bird, left the court at that very moment. “We’re just watching these guys walk off while AD is taking a foul shot.”
Isiah Thomas explained during the Chicago Bulls’ documentary The Last Dance that they saw the Celtics walking off the court as the passing of the torch and they respected their rivals for that.
“Adrian Dantley was shooting a free throw, and the Boston Celtics were walking off during the game,” Thomas said. “And I grab McHale and then he stopped as he was walking off the floor. That’s how they left the floor. And to us, that was okay.”
A former Chicago Bulls player, John Paxson, agreed with that, saying that the Celtics acted in a similar way when they lost against the Pistons, but nobody made it bigger than it was.
“Detroit had a similar thing with Boston that we had with them. They had to overcome Boston. And they did,” Bulls guard John Paxson said in ESPN’s The Last Dance. “And I can still remember the first time that Detroit beat them. And I can remember seeing Kevin McHale come out to halfcourt and shaking hands and things like that.”
However, things were different after the 90s arrived and seeing the way the league was managed at that time, it was shocking to see the Bad Boys exiting the court without greeting their rivals. Of course, they were an old-school team and had an old-school reaction, but not everybody enjoyed that.
Zeke keeps showing on social media that this was the rule back in the day, even quoting Dominique Wilkins saying he didn’t shake Larry Bird’s hand for 13 years.
https://twitter.com/IsiahThomas/status/1644361782406832129
It seems like it’s too late to make amends for this, but Thomas keeps showing his reasons to not shake hands with the Chicago Bulls, and a lot of people have taken shots at him for his constant attacks against Michael Jordan.
Isiah Thomas Takes Big Shots At Charles Oakley Over Michael Jordan Beef
Thomas isn’t shy to share his opinion on anything on social media, and after Charles Oakley called him out and accused him of being jealous of Michael Jordan, Isiah took some big shots at him.
The beef between Thomas and Jordan continues and nothing suggests that will change anytime soon. The point guard wants a public apology from Jordan, or he’ll continue taking shots at him.
This beef has been around for a while, and as things stand now, it will stay that way for a really long time.
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