Tweet
I never realized how badly Jordan torched the Pistons prior to Chuck Daly enacting "The Jordan Rules". Like the rest of the NBA, the Pistons had no one single player to stop Jordan...but since Jordan hated Isaiah Thomas, the Pistons were on the receiving end of some of Jordan's greatest efforts. What I find interesting is that not only were the Pistons unable to stop Jordan, they were actually one of the WORST in the NBA at stopping Jordan.
Then, magically, in the playoffs the Pistons would shut down Jordan using WWF tactics. Daly said he had to use dirty tactics to stop Jordan because guys like Laimbeer and Mahorn couldn't stop Jordan from finishing his drives. Its almost like the reverse of the "Mel Blount Rule" in the NFL...the NBA allowed excessive thuggery because one player (Jordan) was unstoppable otherwise.
Looking at these Bulls-Pistons games in retrospect, a few things are amazing: Jordan's skills, Jerry Krause's inability to assemble an NBA roster, David Stern's inability to manage a competitive league, NBA officials continued inability to make consistent decisions.