Forever Bad Boys Pistons: 1989 NBA Finals

[00:00:00] On June 6, 1989, the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons won their very first NBA title, defeating

[00:00:08] the legendary Los Angeles Lakers and ending Kareem Al-Dujabbar's career.

[00:00:14] Here's the story behind how it all happened today on Daily Sports History.

[00:00:24] Welcome to Daily Sports History.

[00:00:26] I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day.

[00:00:30] Today's trivia question to listen out for was how did the Bad Boy Pistons get their nickname?

[00:00:37] Now, at the end of the 1987-88 season, the Pistons that had just won a record 54 games

[00:00:45] were defeated by the Los Angeles Lakers in a seven game series led by Magic Johnson

[00:00:51] and Kareem Al-Dujabbar winning two championships in a row and sending the Pistons home wondering

[00:00:57] if they would be able to get back.

[00:00:59] Following this season, the NBA put together an entertainment highlight reel for each team.

[00:01:06] One of the copy editors, actually for the Pistons, gave them the nickname the Bad Boys

[00:01:12] on this video and that is where the nickname stuck for the Bad Boy Pistons and they

[00:01:18] took this moniker and it may have helped them just win the championship the following

[00:01:22] year because not only did they have this nickname to go for, it was also their

[00:01:27] style of play.

[00:01:29] It made them want to be tough and they were one of the most toughest physical teams

[00:01:32] that had ever played in the NBA.

[00:01:35] And they had also just moved to a new stadium of the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan

[00:01:40] and they had sold out all their home games that year and they had one of the best

[00:01:45] backcourts with Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars with a solid center and Bill Lymebeer

[00:01:51] and added a young Dennis Rodman to their core.

[00:01:54] But they weren't done just running it back.

[00:01:57] That next year, they actually improved even better when they traded Adrian Dantley

[00:02:03] to the Dallas Mavericks for Mark Aguirre who has actually chosen one pick ahead of

[00:02:10] Isaiah Thomas in the 1981 draft.

[00:02:12] The number one pick and the number two pick on their team from the 1981 draft

[00:02:17] and this helped them finish with the league best 63-19 record heading into the

[00:02:23] playoffs.

[00:02:24] But that was for the East.

[00:02:26] On the West, the Lakers were having a great season being led by Magic Johnson who

[00:02:31] averaged over 22 points, almost eight rebounds and almost 13 assists and being

[00:02:36] named the MVP of the league.

[00:02:38] And they finished first in the West having Kareem Aldo-Jabbar, Michael

[00:02:42] Cooper, James Worthy, previous epitope topic, AC Green on their team.

[00:02:48] And in the playoffs, the Pistons were making their way easily through the

[00:02:51] playoffs, sweeping the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks in the first two

[00:02:56] rounds.

[00:02:56] But in the Eastern Conference Finals, they came against a growing factor in

[00:03:00] the NBA, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

[00:03:03] But they used an interesting tactic to beat Jordan in the Eastern

[00:03:07] Conference Finals called the Jordan Rules where they would wear Jordan down

[00:03:11] more than any other player.

[00:03:13] And it worked as they won the final three games to earn their birth into

[00:03:17] the NBA Finals again.

[00:03:19] And they would face off against the Los Angeles Lakers who were sweeping

[00:03:24] through the West.

[00:03:25] They beat Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trailblazers, Dale Ellis and

[00:03:30] the Seattle Supersonics and Tom Chambers and Kevin Johnson of the

[00:03:35] Phoenix Suns, sweeping all the way to get to the NBA Finals.

[00:03:39] Unfortunately, during that time, they lost a key contributor to their

[00:03:43] team, Byron Scott.

[00:03:45] And this would change the fabric of their team in the NBA Finals.

[00:03:49] So in the first game with Scott suffering in the injury, this was really

[00:03:53] felt on the defensive end as the Pistons had Isaiah Thomas and Joe

[00:03:58] Dumars in the backcourt and Scott was a great defender of guards.

[00:04:02] But this required them to play their rookie David Rivers, who was very

[00:04:07] inexperienced and allowed the guard to the Pistons to really take over

[00:04:11] the game as Isaiah Thomas had 24 points and Joe Dumars had 22.

[00:04:16] And the Pistons won handily that first game, 109 to 97.

[00:04:21] The Lakers tried to snap back in game two in Detroit, finishing with

[00:04:26] the first quarter lead.

[00:04:27] But Joe Dumars was on fire in the first half with 24 points.

[00:04:31] The Lakers head onto the lead 62 to 56 at halftime.

[00:04:36] But four minutes into the third period, Detroit was on a fast break

[00:04:39] and Magic Johnson tried to get back to play defense and pulled his

[00:04:43] hamstring, causing him to leave the game.

[00:04:47] The Pistons would tie the game on that play.

[00:04:50] And despite not having Magic Johnson, the Lakers were in the game

[00:04:53] until the final minute when Isaiah Thomas hit a couple of free throws

[00:04:57] to give them the win 108 to 105.

[00:05:01] And with a 2-0 series, the game went back to LA and Magic Johnson

[00:05:05] tried to come back and play in this game, although he lasted only five minutes.

[00:05:11] He left the game with the Lakers leading 11 to eight.

[00:05:14] But his backup, James Worthy came in and scored 26 points as Kareem

[00:05:18] Aldo-Jabbar was trying his best even at the age of 42, scoring

[00:05:23] 28 points and having 13 rebounds.

[00:05:26] But it still wasn't enough as the Pistons won 114 to 110.

[00:05:31] So now we come to game four and the Lakers have their backs against the wall.

[00:05:36] Four time champion coach Pat Riley knows that no one has ever come back from 3-0.

[00:05:42] And that is still true to this day.

[00:05:44] And James Worthy, the guy that stepped in to help fill the spots

[00:05:49] for Magic Johnson, stepped up his game even more to try to get them a win

[00:05:54] and maybe possibly get back in the series.

[00:05:57] He scored 40 points in this game.

[00:06:00] And after the first quarter, the Lakers were up 35 to 23.

[00:06:04] But the Pistons kept chipping away at them as they didn't have any injuries

[00:06:08] to deal with and the Lakers were without their MVP and without their third

[00:06:14] leading scorer in Byron Scott.

[00:06:16] But the Pistons started to work their way back

[00:06:19] and the Lakers only led at halftime 55 to 49.

[00:06:22] In a few minutes into the third quarter,

[00:06:25] the Pistons finally took the lead 59 to 58.

[00:06:29] But James Worthy was still balling

[00:06:31] and brought them back to take the lead at the end of the third quarter 78 to 76.

[00:06:38] But the Pistons took control in the fourth, taking the lead and taking

[00:06:41] control of the game, and with three minutes and 23 seconds left to go,

[00:06:46] the Pistons led 100 to 94.

[00:06:49] And this is when an unusual moment happened in the finals.

[00:06:53] The crowd rose and gave a standing ovation to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,

[00:06:59] who had checked out of the game for seemingly the last time in his career.

[00:07:04] Remember, they are in Los Angeles,

[00:07:06] but Kareem was one of the all time greatest players of all time.

[00:07:10] And his longevity was just amazing.

[00:07:13] But he could not help the Lakers win one last time before he retired.

[00:07:17] But it wasn't his last time.

[00:07:19] He actually reentered the game with one minute and 37 seconds left to score

[00:07:23] his last two points, cutting into the Pistons margin, making it 100 to 96.

[00:07:29] But with 47 seconds left, he again came back out to thunderous applause.

[00:07:34] Despite the Lakers losing,

[00:07:36] this still was a great moment to see the last game of Kareem

[00:07:39] Abdul-Jabbar in his home arena.

[00:07:41] From then, the Pistons took off and finished the game with a score of 105

[00:07:47] to 97, completely sweeping the Lakers,

[00:07:50] although, be it the Lakers were without their MVP and had multiple injuries.

[00:07:55] They still finished the job and got their very first championship title.

[00:08:00] And Joe Dumars, part of that great back court with Isaiah Thomas,

[00:08:05] went on to win the MVP for the finals, averaging 27.3 points,

[00:08:11] more than six points better than the next player on the team,

[00:08:14] which was Isaiah Thomas, his back court mate, and really helped lead the series.

[00:08:19] And the Bad Boy Pistons carried this on to have an encore performance in the 1990

[00:08:25] NBA Finals, where they dismantled again a great opponent in the Portland

[00:08:29] Trail Blazers, where Isaiah Thomas was the MVP.

[00:08:32] Now, this this series was a unique one because as much as you wanted to root

[00:08:38] for the Bad Boy Pistons, they never won one going the NBA royalty that is

[00:08:43] the Lakers, they didn't back down and it was also the last time we saw

[00:08:48] Lakers legend Kareem Al-Dujabar play and the first time we saw the Pistons raise

[00:08:54] a trophy, making the Bad Boys for life.

[00:08:57] And I want to thank Nate,

[00:08:59] the great stats on Twitter for suggesting this topic.

[00:09:02] And if you want to have me do a topic for you, all you need to do is leave

[00:09:06] a review wherever you're listening or send us an email at daily sports history.com.

[00:09:10] Tell us your name and what topic you would love us to cover.

[00:09:14] And we'll give it an episode just for you and come back tomorrow for more

[00:09:18] daily sports history.

[00:09:20] And did you catch the answer to today's question?

[00:09:22] Who gave the name Bad Boys to the Pistons?

[00:09:28] It was a copy editor who put together

[00:09:31] a highlight reel in 1988 for the Pistons, for the NBA.