Isiah Thomas Responds To Doc Rivers Calling Bill Laimbeer And His Bad Boy Pistons ‘Soft’

Few teams in NBA history have embodied toughness the way the Bad Boy Pistons did in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Led by Isiah Thomas, the Pistons struck fear into the league’s biggest stars while dominating the league. The Pistons were anything but “soft” during their prime years.

However, ahead of the Pistons-Bucks game, Doc Rivers made a shocking comment. The Bucks head coach scoffed at a reporter when he addressed the Pistons as “Bad Boys Pistons.” Rivers, recalling his time against the Pistons, called them “soft.”

He said, “They weren’t that bad. Bill Laimbeer, so soft.” Clearly, Rivers was in a fun mood and was joking about the Pistons being soft back in the day. Because there’s enough evidence to prove that they terrorized the entire league, including Magic Johnson’s Showtime Lakers, Larry Bird’s Celtics, Michael Jordan’s Bulls, and more.

But since his team was called out, Zeke had to respond. However, the NBA legend understood that Rivers was joking and gave a lighthearted response. He said, “We did our thing, you know. You can go look at the record book, we beat them a couple of times. They beat us in one series, we beat them. We had great battles with Atlanta.”

Zeke reacts to Doc Rivers saying the Bad Boy @DetroitPistons "weren't that bad" 😅😂 pic.twitter.com/s0RD0nl6r0

— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 12, 2025

During the Pistons’ Bad Boy era, Rivers was a point guard for the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks won their first playoff matchup in 1986 by kicking the Pistons out in the first round. The following year, Zeke’s Pistons got their revenge by defeating them in the Conference Semifinals. They met again in 1991, where the Pistons defeated the Hawks 3-2 in the first round.

Despite a clear upper hand, Zeke was gracious enough to acknowledge that there were some great players in Atlanta at the time. He said, “Atlanta had some tough guys, too. I mean, they had a guy by the name of Kevin Willis…he tap-tap, but for the most part, we just tapped a little harder.”

Having met Isiah Thomas and the Pistons thrice in the playoffs and losing on two occasions, Rivers knows just how gritty and relentless the Pistons were back in the day. Fortunately, tonight, as the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, he got the better of the Pistons as his team defeated them 125-119 at the Little Caesars Arena.