Rise of the Bad Boy Pistons

Rise of the Bad Boy Pistons

The Detroit Pistons franchise was riddled with mediocre to bad basketball from the 1950s all the way up to the early 1980s. After purchasing the franchise in 1974 from Fred Zollner, who had originally founded the team in Fort Wayne, Indiana, new owner Bill Davidson faced some tough decisions. Davidson refused to wait alongside the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League for the Joe Louis Arena, then under construction, to be completed.

Instead, Davidson moved the Pistons to the Pontiac Silverdome in 1978, the same stadium that housed the Detroit Lions of the National Football League at the time. The Pistons were dreadful on the court in the 1979-80 season, posting a dismal 16-66 record, and the 1980-81 season wasn’t much better at 21-61. Across those two seasons, the Pistons endured a losing streak of 21 games. This is the story of how that team became the Bad Boy Pistons, a back-to-back champion built on defense, grit and swagger.

Drafting the Building Blocks

The pendulum finally swung in Detroit’s favor at the 1981 NBA Draft, when the Pistons selected Isiah Thomas, a blossoming star point guard from the Indiana Hoosiers, with the second overall pick. In early 1982, the Pistons completed trades with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Seattle SuperSonics to acquire center Bill Laimbeer and shooting guard Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson, respectively. Thomas, Laimbeer and Johnson would all play pivotal roles in the rise of Detroit Pistons basketball.

The Pistons started playing better basketball, forcing fans and the media to take notice. In the 1983-84 season, they finished fourth in the Eastern Conference with a 49-33 record, qualifying for the playoffs. They were eliminated by the New York Knicks in the first round, three games to two, with all five games decided by eight points or less.

The next year, the Pistons made further progress, sweeping the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the 1985 playoffs, three games to none. The Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge, went on to defeat the Pistons four games to two in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but Detroit had shown it was willing to go toe-to-toe with a team considered a dominant juggernaut in the NBA.

Adding Grit and Attitude

Knowing they needed more firepower, the Pistons found talent that other teams had overlooked. In the 1985 NBA Draft, they selected guard Joe Dumars from McNeese State with the 18th overall pick. Through a trade with the Washington Bullets, they also acquired power forward and center Rick Mahorn, a rough and physical presence in the paint.

The Pistons took a step back in 1986, falling to Dominique Wilkins, the “Human Highlight Reel,” and the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs, three games to one. It was at this point that head coach Chuck Daly and Isiah Thomas decided the team needed a more aggressive style of play, one built on physicality, toughness and intimidation.

One sign of this shift came in the 1986 NBA Draft, when the Pistons selected power forward John Salley from Georgia Tech with the 11th overall pick and forward Dennis Rodman from Southeastern Oklahoma State with the 27th pick. Another sign was the acquisition of small forward Adrian Dantley in a trade with the Utah Jazz. Under Chuck Daly, this ultra-aggressive defensive mentality, punishing opponents as hard as the rules would allow, whether or not it drew a whistle, earned the team the nickname fans still use today: the Bad Boys.

Falling Just Short of the Celtics

The Pistons carried their newfound swagger into the 1987 playoffs, advancing all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Celtics. After a pivotal Game 5 loss, in which Isiah Thomas’s mental error on an inbounds pass let Larry Bird steal the ball and feed Dennis Johnson for the winning basket, the Pistons fell short, four games to three.

In 1988, the Pistons met the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals once again, and this time they prevailed, defeating Boston four games to two and clinching the series on their home court at the Pontiac Silverdome. It was the franchise’s first trip to the NBA Finals.

A Heartbreaking Finals Loss to the Lakers

The Pistons faced the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1988 NBA Finals. The Lakers were led by Hall of Fame players James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, who was a close friend of Isiah Thomas. The two teams went back and forth, but the Lakers eventually pulled away and won the championship, four games to three.

In Game 6 of the Finals on June 19, Isiah Thomas severely sprained his ankle, an injury so bad that he could barely move without gingerly hobbling. It was in that same game that Thomas delivered one of the gutsiest performances of his career, scoring 25 points in a single quarter, an NBA Finals record.

Back-to-Back World Champions

The Pistons said goodbye to the Silverdome and moved to The Palace of Auburn Hills for the 1988-89 season, but not all was well within the team. Adrian Dantley resisted Isiah Thomas’s leadership role and repeatedly clashed with coach Chuck Daly. Dantley was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on February 15, 1989, for small forward Mark Aguirre. Given Aguirre’s own history of clashes with Mavericks management, the trade was initially considered controversial, but the gamble ultimately paid off. The Bad Boy Pistons were just getting started.

Sweeping the Lakers in 1989

The Pistons tore through the NBA, winning the Central Division with a 63-19 record and advancing to the 1989 NBA Finals to once again face the Lakers. This time, the Pistons swept Los Angeles four games to none, and Joe Dumars was named Finals MVP, averaging 28 points over the final three games.

Defeating Portland in 1990

The Pistons successfully defended their title, going back-to-back by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1990 NBA Finals, four games to one. Portland’s tandem of Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, Terry Porter and Buck Williams posed a real threat, but the Pistons proved too much. Isiah Thomas was named Finals MVP, leading the team in scoring for three games and in assists for four. Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson hit the game-winning shot with 0.7 seconds left in the deciding Game 5, giving the Pistons a 92-90 win.

The Bad Boys Era Comes to an End

Every team that rises eventually falls, and the Pistons were no different. They returned to the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals attempting a three-peat, but were swept by the Chicago Bulls, four games to none, behind the excellent play of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant and John Paxson. The Pistons had previously had the Bulls’ number, eliminating them in three straight playoff meetings from 1988 to 1990, largely through the Jordan Rules, a defensive scheme in which Jordan was harassed and double-teamed any time he touched the ball, forcing him to give it up. Before Game 4 ended, the Pistons abruptly walked off the court without congratulating the Bulls, giving Chicago the cold shoulder instead.

In the first round of the 1992 playoffs, the Bad Boy Pistons finally unraveled, losing to the New York Knicks, three games to two. The era of the Bad Boys had come to a close, but their presence had been felt by many, creating fierce rivalries with the Celtics, Lakers and Bulls, and cementing a reputation as the bullies of the league, the team everyone loved to hate. During one practice in the 1980s, the Pistons received silver and black Los Angeles Raiders football jerseys and merchandise, which only added to their outlaw persona. The Bad Boy Pistons were outlaws on the NBA court, and no one could deny how good they were as a cohesive brotherhood.