Bad Boy Pistons Still Rent Space In Michael Jordan’s Thick Head
It's been almost thirty years since the Detroit Pistons walked off the floor without shaking Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls hands after losing in the NBA Playoffs, and MJ can't let it go.
The ESPN ten-part documentary 'The Last Dance', about the Bulls six NBA titles has thus far shown the Bulls to be an ego driven, cocaine fueled team held down by (of course) Jordan's discipline and leadership.
It only goes to mystify me then, why Michael has so much hatred for the mostly straight laced, but tough as nails 'Bad Boy' era Pistons, who prevented him from winning eight titles. It seems to me they acted like he wanted his teammates to, play hard, and prepare for games.
In the documentary, Jordan again shows his wrath toward Piston guard Isaiah Thomas. Still angered from the 1991 Bad Boys disrespecting the Bulls and walking off without a handshake, Jordan calls Thomas a word that rhymes with 'glass bowl', and says he has never bought into Thomas' attempts at reconciliation.
'Whatever he says now, you know it wasn't his true actions then', Jordan says in the film. 'He's had time enough to think about it, or the reaction of the public that's kind of changed his perspective of it. You can show me anything you want, there's no way you can convince me he's not an a**hole.'
And besides, Jordan kept Thomas off the 1992 Olympic Dream team, so why does he keep wanting to squeeze blood from that rock?
Former Detroit News Pistons beat reporter Terry Foster made it clear in a blog post that the ESPN documentary missed a few details about the walk off and about Jordan.
(The day before) Jordan said the Pistons were Bad Champions. Bad for basketball. Shameful. When Jordan spoke the Bulls were up 3-0 against the aging Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals and by that time the entire world knew the two-time defending champion Pistons were toast and the running of the Bulls was just beginning.
Then a day after destroying the Pistons franchise Jordan expects the Pistons to shake hands? John Salley did shake the Bulls hands. But we never see that footage.
In a weird way, it's kind of niice to know that instead of letting it go, Isaiah and the Bad boys are still stuck in MJ's head.
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