“Bad Boy” Piston Blasts “Hypocrite” Michael Jordan for Calling His Team “Dirty”: “If It Wasn’t for Dennis Rodman Coming From the Pistons, He Wouldn’t Have Gotten That 6”

Michael Jordan won six championships in the form of two three-peats with the Chicago Bulls. By the late ’80s, MJ was arguably the best player in the world but he couldn’t win a title till 1991. The Detroit Pistons stopped him for three successive years in the Eastern Conference. That team was nicknamed “The Bad Boys” due to their aggressive nature on the court.

They had Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, John Salley, Joe Dumars, and Bill Laimbeer. Jordan hated the Pistons and said, “The Bad Boys are bad for basketball”. He still hates the Pistons to this day for what they did to him in the late 80s.

When Michael Jordan finally conquered the hurdle in 1991, he chastised the Pistons for their dirty plays, flagrant fouls, and unsportsmanlike conduct. Jordan didn’t like that they were trying to “hurt” people and wanted to play “clean” with the Bulls.

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Former Pistons player William Bedford challenged Jordan recently on that statement he made decades back. “It didn’t clean up and didn’t stop,” says Bedford, “Other teams picked it up. The New York Knicks picked it up right after us”. He continued, “He(Jordan) beefed up to get those next championships too. They started playing the same way. Why? Because you got our players.”

Bedford mentioned that they had Salley, Dennis Rodman, and James Edwards. Hence, to Bedford, nothing changed from those days of rugged playing and Jordan inherited that style anyway.

Why did Michael Jordan fear the Pistons?

Dennis Rodman, Isiah Thomas, and others like William Bedford were part of a legendary Detroit Pistons Team. “The Bad Boys” were popular with the Detroit crowd. It became their identity. They defeated the likes of Larry Bird, Jordan, and Magic Johnson during their title runs.

They won two successive titles in 1989 and 1990. The Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in a four-game sweep in the 1989 NBA Finals. They repeated their success in 1990 after going through a tough Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls team in seven games. Detroit faced the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1990 Finals.

They shared wins at home but in Portland, the Pistons won all of their games. Portland was leading 90-83 in the fifth game with just two minutes left. They lost it later on as the Pistons rallied. Vinnie Johnson’s 15-foot jumper at 0.07 seconds won them the game.

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Michael Jordan was arguably right to fear this team. They were an All-Star team who deserved their titles. The Detroit Pistons were certainly an underrated team in the 90s.