One of the biggest roadblocks in the early years of Michael Jordan’s career was the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons were one of the best teams in the NBA during the 1980s and were routinely facing off against the Chicago Bulls during the NBA playoffs.
Jordan’s greatness was apparent to them, and so the Bad Boy Pistons created a strategy that suited their defensive prowess, which was to play with increased physicality against Jordan to try and stop him.
The strategy was effective, as the Pistons constantly got the better of Jordan and the Bulls, despite Jordan’s incredible play.
But the strategy looked like it was faltering in 1990 when the Bulls were able to push the Pistons to Game 7, thanks to the rise of Scottie Pippen’s rise as a secondary option to Jordan. But the Pistons were able to still advance to the NBA Finals after winning Game 7.
Michael Jordan spoke after Game 7 ended, and classily congratulated the Pistons for their win and gave them props. Despite the animosity and bad blood between MJ and the Pistons, he noted how good a team they were and noted that they deserved the win on the night (1:47 onwards).
“All you can do is wish them good luck. We fought hard, they were the better team. We took them to a 7 game series, what more can you ask for? We want to be where they are, but we still not there. We still trying to improve our team, they were the better team and they played better today… I’m disappointed, I wanted to go through it. But I gotta accept the season that we played, we got this far. That’s the only thing we could do.”
Jordan and the Bulls would be able to overcome the Pistons next year and Jordan reached the NBA Finals for the first time.
But interestingly, the Pistons didn’t replicate the class that Jordan did the previous year, as they walked off the court before the game ended, and did not congratulate them over their victory the way that Michael Jordan did.
Michael Jordan was not happy with the way the Pistons behaved, and that is one of the major reasons his relationship with Isiah Thomas, the leader of the Pistons, was so strained. But Jordan needed to overcome him and the Pistons to become the player that he did, and win the accolades that he did.
