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The rivalry between Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas probably reached its peak after the 1991 Eastern Conference finals. After three years of increasingly difficult battles, the Chicago Bulls finally got over the hump by sweeping and eliminating the Detroit Pistons.
More than a sweep and Jordan’s first NBA Finals appearance, the series was remembered for its infamous walk-off by the “Bad Boys.” In an episode of Shannon Sharpe’s "Club Shay Shay" podcast, the legendary Pistons point guard explained his side of the whole brouhaha.
“Jordan, before they swept us, the night before, he has this big press conference where he annihilates our team. The one thing that really hit us hard was when he called us 'undeserving champions.'
"Now you’ve [Shannon Sharpe] won Super Bowls, you’ve been a champion. Now imagine someone saying that what you earned, what you did, you were undeserving of it. And by the way, it wasn’t a coach, it wasn’t a media person, it was one of your peers.”
Michael Jordan’s reason for making such comments was based on the battering he received because of the Pistons’ "Jordan Rules." Detroit made it a point to physically punish Jordan every time he drove to the basket.
In the rough era of 1980s, what the Pistons did to Jordan was often seen by fans and basketball analysts as out of bounds. Dennis Rodman, one of Jordan’s most aggressive and bruising defenders, later admitted in his career that they were trying to hurt Jordan.
The Pistons’ roughhousing led to Jordan’s remarks, which led to a walk-off led by Bill Laimbeer. Isiah Thomas talked about this controversial moment:
“When we walked off, and Laimbeer said, ‘I’m not shaking their hands.’ This is how we rode. We rode as a tea. One for all, all for one. And Laimbeer was like, ‘This is what we were doing,’ so you fall in line. None of us knew that the camera would be on you and that it was supposed to be a passing of the torch.
“Shannon, that is some BS! Ain’t never been no torch passed, a glorious moment and all that. All that narrative around that was just total made-up BS to make one team or one player look bad and another one look good. That was it.”
Michael Jordan called Isiah Thomas an a**hole for the 1991 walk-off
Episode 4 of ESPN and Netflix's "The Last Dance" took a walk down memory lane in 1991, particularly the Eastern Conference finals. Isiah Thomas’ matter-of-fact response to the walk-off, which was supposedly what was done by the Boston Celtics, was ripped by Michael Jordan.
“Whatever he says now, you know it wasn’t his true actions then. You know, there’s time enough to think about it, or the reaction of the public that’s changed his perspective. You can show me anything you want. There’s no way you can convince me he wasn’t an a-hole.”
Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas avoided each other like the plague during the NBA’s announcement of the 75th anniversary team. It doesn’t look like the bad blood between the two will go away any time soon.
Guess the Lakers players!
