The rivalry between the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls from the late 80’s and early 90’s is nowhere near to dying down and has once again been brought up during the latest 2 installments into “The Last Dance,” a 10-part documentary on the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls.
On Sunday, The “Bad Boy” Pistons were thrust into the spotlight of their treatment of the Chicago Bulls, most notably, Michael Jordan anytime he tried to score on the floor by unleashing their ‘Jordan rules’ to make it hard for him. The Pistons were a pivotal hurdle for Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls en route to six NBA championships during his reign in the NBA.
During the 1991 Eastern Conference finals and with 7.9 seconds remaining left, the Pistons starters who were already on the bench, walked off the court without shaking hands with the Bulls.
Former Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer said in an interview on ESPN’s The Jump the following day that he didn’t regret the decision to walk off the floor.
“Why would I regret it now today?” Laimbeer asked. “I don’t care what the media says about me. I never did. If I did, I’d be a basket case, especially back then.
“I was about winning basketball games and winning championships and did whatever I had to do to get the most out of my ability and our team — and we did. At the end of the day, we’re called world champions.”
He went on to refer to Jordan and the Bulls were “whiners.”
“They whined and cried for a year and a half about how bad we were for the game, but more importantly, they said we were bad people,” Laimbeer said. “We weren’t bad people. We were just basketball players winning, and that really stuck with me because they didn’t know who we were or what we were about as individuals and our family life.
“But all that whining they did, I didn’t want to shake their hand. They were just whiners. They won the series. Give him credit: we got old, they got past us. But OK, move on.”
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