Michael Jordan dominated the 90s so hard that fans often forget there was a time he lost as well. Prior to the formation of the now legendary Bulls squad, Jordan had to face ultimate challenges. In this series of fearsome challenges, none troubled MJ more than the Detroit Pistons. But even with their infamous ‘Jordan Rules,’ the Pistons were finally defeated by Michael. John Salley then revealed the true Jordan Rules.
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The Pistons had managed to contain Michael and the Bulls for quite some time. They first met in the playoffs in 1988. The Bulls had only met the Pistons once before and won in 1974.
However, things had changed now and the Pistons were a far better team than Chicago. The problem with Chicago was that they relied too much on Jordan. And once the Pistons devised a strategy to stop His Airness, Chicago suffered the consequence.
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Michael Jordan overcame the odds to destroy Detroit Pistons
The Pistons created the infamous and violent strategy called Jordan Rules to contain MJ. The rules involved multiple tactics. Brendan Malone, an assistant coach with the Pistons in those years, revealed the strategy in detail.
In his book, Roland Lazenby revealed what Malone had claimed.
Brendan Malone: “Took away his drive by pushing him to the elbows, took away his baseline drive, and pushed him left. And when he got the ball down on the blocks in the post, we would come from the top and double-team him. That was the Jordan Rules. We did not want him to get to the baseline. On the wings we pushed him to the elbows. We pushed him on either wing to the elbow, and we would influence him to his left.”
But Michael Jordan fought the physically violent Bad Boys toe to toe. With every punch and every fall, MJ got back up and went straight at the rim to score again. He was fearless and his tenacity scared the Pistons. They knew that any wrong move and Michael Jordan would end up with 50.
John Salley, one of the members of the Bad Boys of Detroit, revealed the real Jordan Rules. Not the ones that Malone mentioned or the ones immortalized in Last Dance. Salley’s rules really put MJ’s skills into perspective.
Salley: “It’s really two things. When Michael gets his hands on the ball, we all get down on our knees and pray. Secondly, we all go to church or synagogue before the game.”
Isiah Thomas has hated MJ for all these years
Isiah Thomas was easily the best player on the Pistons’ squad that faced MJ all those times. Their fierce rivalry gave way to fierce hatred. The Last Dance also shed some more light on this. However, Thomas has taken the beef to the next level.
In a recent interview, IT used some explicit words to describe Jordan. The 2-time NBA champ was commenting on Michael calling him an a**hole in The Last Dance.
Thomas: “This guy comes on television and he says that he hates me, and then he calls me an a**hole. And then I proceed to watch a whole documentary about him being an a**hole. I’m like wait a minute, time out. Until I get a public apology, this beef is gonna go on for a long, long time, cause I’m from the west side of Chicago.”
It’s safe to assume that the beef will never be resolved. Michael is not famous for apologizing after all.
