A lot of people thought it was dirty and that what they played definately wasn't basketball. To an extent those people have a point because sometimes the game would just turn into a big wrestling match. It wasn't the brand of basketball that the so called "purists" of the game would like to watch. The players had skill though...Vinnie, Isiah, Dumars...those guys, especially the latter two, were some of the more skilled players in the game; they just happened to use other tactics to get ahead. Desirable to have a modern day "Bad Boys"? I don't think so. The game right now is pretty ugly and having a team like that would only make it uglier. Last year people were calling the Pacers the modern day Bad Boys and look how much criticism they received. The team worked simply because everyone believed in one another. No one was out for personal gain and they just did whatever it took to win. They had the designated leader, Isiah, and everyone else just fell in line and took the league by storm. People got nasty back, especially the Celtics. Often it wasn't pretty for whoever tried to fight back, but there were guys who were sick and tired of people being scared of the Pistons and tried to get back at 'em.
They even got soft teams like the Cavs to fight. I remember church boy Mark Price and Brad Daugherty they got into battles with.
It looks like I found this thread too late. All of the questions that I wanted to answer were answered and all the things I wanted to say have been said. However, I would like to say that I grew up watching the Bad Boys and I could take anymore questions that anyone has to ask. I would like to point out that they were not only bad boys on the court, but they were bad boys off the court too. Isaih was Mr.Two-Face. He was a media-darling but an asswhole behind the flashbulbs. Dennis Rodman has already been exposed as a maniac, but I remember one incident with him that kind of freaked me out. After one loss they found Rodman sitting in the parking lot after all the cars had left. It was around two in the mourning and he had a gun to his head and his eyes shut tight. If the police didn't pull the gun away fast he might have killed himself. He was either severely depressed or under the influence of drugs. Anyway, that's the kind of behavior I think about when I hear about the Bad Boys.
Ahhh...the Bad Boys. What a team to watch. This was the team nobody wanted to play...a team any coach would love to coach. These made you work for everything and put fear in your eyes. Intimidation might have been their biggest reason for success. Truely a remarkable team. And Wave is right, Isaiah Thomas was two-faced; even as a coach. He made himself out to be the "media-darling" but we all seen him blow up in the middle of a game last season which he was later suspended for. With that said, you still gotta love the guy.
Thomas wanted the attention to be on himself, I remember an all star game where he did not pass the ball to Jordan at all because he was sick the the attention that MJ was getting. Rodman was depressed, all he wanted to do was be able to see his daughter, which for some reason the woman did not allow him those rights. Rodman, a freak eh? Hardly.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting How_High78:</div><div class="quote_post">Clever? Maybe. It still sounds dirty to me. Was there skill involved here or was it simply celebrated thugery? Would it be possible or desirable to have a modern day "Bad Boys"? What made this team work and did anyone get nasty back at them?</div> Don't let the nickname fool you, they were a supremely talented ball club, not the most talented individually but they all worked for eachother sensationally. But they worked so well as a team and had such a desire for success, they used such aggression because of their passion to win - they wouldn't accept someone could score on them, they wouldn't accept losing out on a rebound etc. It's the sort of passion that sadly is lacking too often today. Isaiah was like John Stockton. You watch Stock, and he'll get away with little knees and elbows, and he has it perfected to such an art that he is seen as a real hero of basketball. Maybe not dirty to the extent of Isaiah, but it's that sort of subtle thing.
Pat Riley then took the Knicks and tried to win that way, same for the Heat, and failed. Many other teams took the huge defensive approach, and it has slowed the game down to where it is today. All thanks to the Bad Boys.
Interesting thread. Which will be the next piece? Could it be the 92/93 Suns? That would be awesome... (I know they haven't won, and there were way better teams in the history of the NBA, but they're still classic...)
i remember Thomas saying that they'll die for one another...go to battles together...love one another...and you ain't gonna beat that kind of team...or something to that effect...
Yep.. They had their fight of the court ,but on it they would fight for each other.. They could off-court stuff forget for the game..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting InNETSweTrust:</div><div class="quote_post">i remember Thomas saying that they'll die for one another...go to battles together...love one another...and you ain't gonna beat that kind of team...or something to that effect...</div> Yes they would, this team was very close and they woild die for one another. Thomas I have see in interviews when they would talk about the Bad Boys he would always break down and cry. **** I love basketball!
Here goes my Woody Paige - "I gotta set you guys straight every time. I would like to offer a different perspective..." I grew up in Detroit and I went to their games since the mid 70's. They used to have the games downtown and the Pistons were terrible. Then in the later 80's they moved the team out to Detroit to Auburn Hills, about 30 minutes north of the city. That stunk. Was not able to get to as many games. At the same time, something much worse happened (for basketball purists): the Pistons started winning by cheating. Thugs. Bullies. Cheap shot artists. Babies and tantrums when they did not get calls (Lambeer, Thomas, Rodman). What an embarasement! Wolrd champs and everyone hates your team for good reason! Since you were a kid you loved your Pistons no matter how bad they were. Now, it's too far to travel (almost an hour in bad traffic) and too expensive to go see a team that cheats. Oh well. Better switch to being a Knicks or Bulls fan. What we (Pistons fans in Detroit) did not realize was that we had one of the finest teams ever assembled. They had a lot of talent but more heart and grit than the whole NBA combined. I still dislike them. Stupid me, huh?
Not exactly stupid you. Though I love the hustle players who would do anything on the floor to win, I don't necessarily think what they played was basketball (something a whole lot of others think also). They tried to turn games into wrestling matches and won through that route. It was an interesting period for the NBA needless to say.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting sunsfan1357:</div><div class="quote_post">Not exactly stupid you. Though I love the hustle players who would do anything on the floor to win, I don't necessarily think what they played was basketball (something a whole lot of others think also). They tried to turn games into wrestling matches and won through that route. It was an interesting period for the NBA needless to say.</div> They beat Pat Riley this way, so Pat went to NY and tried to do it...failed. Went to Maimi and tried to do it...failed. I'll give it to him though, he did turn those teams into winners, unlike Phil Jackson who already had the groundwork laid out (not saying he is not a bad coach or has not had a rough time) So I will give Pat credit for that. But that style of play that haunted the 90's and today can be all pointed to the Bad Boys. I wish we could see more offense, like we seen in the late 70's and through the 80's.
I lived in Ann Arbor(right outside of Detroit) during the championship years, but I'm a Bulls fan so I hated the Pistons of that era. Still, I have to admit that THE PISTONS CHANGED THE NBA FOR ALL TIME. McCloskey and Coach Daly took over a team that sported a great point guard in Isiah and not much else. They had Bill Laimbeer, who was an undersized center, but a rugged rebounder. Then they basically surrounded Isiah and Bill with a whole bunch of role players to become a perennial playoff contender, but never going far until '87. That was the first year they had Joe D, who was a rookie. They had also picked up Adrian Dantley, one of the best scorers ever, from Utah, and had an ensemble of rebounders and bangers. Obviously the Lakers and Celtics ruled the 80's through their fast pace and ball movement. The Pistons realized they couldn't beat them this way, so they changed the way the game was played. Ingenious! They slowed the pace of the game, going from a team that took part in the highest scoring game in league history(vs. the Nuggets in 82 or 83) to one known for stifling defense. They used this to shut down the Celtics and later the Bulls, and dispatched the Lakers in the finals in '89. Of course, the Bulls only beat them when they developed a comparable defense under Jackson, and then Riley and others went the way of the defense, which is why today the game is much lower scoring than the '80s, perhaps the best scoring era ever. They're the Bad Boys because that's what they were: cheap, rough, and bad sports. They picked fights, Laimbeer brawling with everyone from Charles Barkley to Robert Parish to Larry Bird. They would frustrate players by getting under their skin to throw off their games mentally: this is where Rodman learned what he later used against everyone from Shaq to Alonzo to Malone while with the Bulls. I say bad sports because, after three straight years of beating the Bulls in the playoffs and beating them up physically on the court, the Bulls finally beat them in '91, and all the Pistons except Joe Dumars and John Salley walked off the court without congratulating the Bulls. Of course, Isiah recently said that the one thing he would change in all his career would have been to shake Jordan's hand that day, but it was still a sour note.
Ha, we know about the Jordan/Thomas fued as players, these guys could not stand one another. Though Thomas and Magic always seemed to be friends off the court at that time (though of course they would still fight during the game) They are famous for the kissing of course. We don't see this kind of emotion as much anymore, not even in the playoffs.
I found this great story from the infamous Karl Malone elbowing Isaiah incident. It's a great story on how close the team was: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">As Michael Lowe, D.P.M., President AAPSM, Team Podiatrist for the Utah Jazz, remembered it in Rremarks at Annual Meeting AAPSM-1996" Isiah Thomas was driving the lane hard to the basket when Karl swatted at the ball but missed and caught Isiah across the eye brow with his elbow. Again the smaller mass paid the price from the 265 lb. Malone. Thomas went down hard to the court. His initial reaction was that he had been shot in the head by some one in the stands. I looked down to see if the Orthopedic Surgeon was going on to the court, he wasn't in his seat, he had gone outside of the court area to answer a page. Isiah was hemorrhaging from the laceration quite badly and was badly dazed from the impact with Karl's elbow. I went down to see if I could help the trainer, since there was general mayhem on the court. I suggested that we put a collar on him and get a back board to carry him off the court. It was at this point that Bill Lambier grabbed me from behind and practically lifted me off the ground by the neck, telling me that Isiah wasn't going to leave the court that way. This was done by shouting about 2 inches away directly into my face. Before I could react from his shove to my chest to get me out of the way, he picked Isiah Thomas up like you would pick up your three year old son, and carried him very carefully into the locker room for further evaluation. It was at about this time the Orthopod showed up. I gladly turned the situation and Bill Lambier over to him. Isiah had a lacerated artery across the brow and was bleeding quite profusely. Lambier refused to leave his side. Since Isiah had a poster boy like face, the Orthopedic surgeon elected to have him transported to the hospital for a Plastic Surgeon to do the primary repair. Lambier went with him to the hospital too. That's what I call team support. </div>
iamme, thanks for the article, but please provide a link for me. Go find it then click on the "Edit" tab to include the link, thanks.
memories damn,the memories. ya'll bring up,what was a great era to be a hoops freak. The Bulls/Pistons and Pistons/Celtics games were usually brutal wars of attrition where the team with the most heart pulled it out. The Pistons put the beat down on the Bulls. Scottie and Mike drove the lane they ate some floor. Matter of fact,the Pistons devised a whole defensive scheme to stop Mike. It was appropraitely called the Jordan Rules. There was a book published about it. Good read if ya'll can cop it somewhere. It may not have been the prettiest or most graceful versions of our game but it was sure a great time to be a fan back in the day.
