Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen wrote in his book that he “was a big fan” of Detroit Pistons icon Isiah Thomas. Thomas is one of the top point guards in NBA history.
“I was a big fan of his when I was in college,” Pippen wrote. “Isiah was exciting to watch. Similar to Mo Cheeks, he was a small guy who could penetrate into the late almost at all. From a distance, he struck me as someone who played the game the way it should be played.”
However, once Pippen faced Thomas in the NBA, his opinion changed.
“Once I saw him up close, I discovered what a dirty player he was, with a knack for making the most inappropriate comments,” Pippen wrote. “Take the time after Game 7 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics when he acknowledged Larry Bird was a ‘very, very good basketball player,’ but if he were black, he would be ‘just another good guy.’ That ‘just another good guy’ is in the Hall of Fame.”
Thomas and the Pistons defeated the Bulls in the 1988, 1989 and 1990 playoffs. Detroit’s players used to physically beat up Pippen and his teammates.
The “Bad Boys” created “The Jordan Rules,” a four-step method to prevent Michael Jordan from scoring and the tactics worked.
However, the Bulls finally beat the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. Chicago swept Detroit and the Pistons were so salty that they left the court before Game 4 ended and didn’t shake hands with the Bulls.
“No respect. Nothing,” Pippen wrote. “In other words, precisely the type of juvenile behavior we had come to expect from a group led by Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer. They couldn’t deal with our being the better team and their reign in the East being over. They were lucky their reign didn’t end in 1990.”
In the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the 1991 conference finals when Dennis Rodman pushed Pippen to the ground and tried to hurt him on a drive to the hoop, Pippen didn’t retaliate and Jordan loved it.
“When Pippen didn’t respond to that abuse, there was nothing they could do to beat us then,” Jordan said in “The Last Dance” documentary.
After finally getting past the Pistons, the Bulls became a dynasty. They won three straight NBA titles in 1991, 1992 and 1993 and three more in 1996, 1997 and 1998.
Thomas tried to become friends with Pippen in 2020, but Pippen wasn’t interested.
“In the spring of 2020, while the doc was being aired, Isiah was interested in the two of us declaring a truce,” Pippen wrote in his book. “He reached out to B. J. Armstrong, who called me: ‘Would you be willing to talk to him?’ B.J. asked. Dude, are you kidding me? When I came into the league, he was never nice to me. Why would I want to meet with him now? Isiah is no fool. He knows better than anyone else how poorly he came across in The Last Dance, and with good reason. I wasn’t about to make it easier for him.”
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