Chicago Bulls: Bad Boy Pistons helped mold Michael Jordan into a champion

The Bad Boy Detroit Pistons helped mold Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls into arguably the most dominating team in NBA history.

Michael Jordan’s unique talents and skill-set as a basketball player allowed him to achieve legendary success early in his NBA career. He was the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1985, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1988, and the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1989. He had achieved scoring titles and won the all-star Dunk Contest in 1987 and 1988.

MJ had collected career-defining accolades in his first four years within the NBA that many other completed Hall of Fame careers couldn’t align with. However, a championship was an elusive crown he’d yet to obtain.

Many great NBA players have had a team that they’ve struggled to emerge past prior to the defining breakthrough. LeBron James’s demons with the “Big Three” Boston Celtics weren’t ever subjugated until he joined forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach.

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Kobe Bryant in the post-Shaq era was able to eclipse title glory the year following his NBA Finals loss to the “Big Three” Celtics in 07-08. Kobe, however, accredited the 2008 loss as his ultimate motivator for redemption in 2010.

For Jordan, the ultimate hurdle was the Detroit Pistons. All of the superhuman achievements Jordan collected his early four-year tenure didn’t seem to hold impactful weight after consecutive conference finals losses to the infamous Bad Boy Pistons.

In the 1989 Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls jumped out to a 2-1 lead against Detroit led by the scoring prowess of Michael and young exuberance of then-head coach Doug Collins. MJ delivered a 46-point performance filled with clutch buckets on a 16-26 shooting night in a tight-knit Game 3 victory. It seemed Jordan could do no wrong on the offensive end averaging 35 points per game in the series first three games.

Detroit ran the postseason table thereafter en-route to the Piston’s first NBA Championship, and creation of rules directed to slow down Michael’s offense dominance headed the way. Established by the Piston’s coaching staff, the critically acclaimed Jordan Rules were designed to take away MJ’s baseline drive and make him feel their muscle every time he went airborne.

JORDAN RULES
1. on the wings, push him to the elbow. dont let him get to the baseline
2. when he's on top, influence him to his left
3. when he gets the ball in the low post, trap him from the top
— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) April 27, 2020

Michael’s greatest asset at the time was his athleticism and to Detroit, guarding him on the floor was the only semblance of offensive resistance Jordan could possess to them. Needless to say, the defensive formula to neutralize the Bull’s star-driven offense worked. With the exception of Game 6, Michael’s scoring output never eclipsed 30 points and in some performances, he didn’t make double-digit field goals (Game 4: 5-15 field goal shooting, Game 5: 4-8 field goal shooting).

The Bulls would succumb to the Pistons the following year in the 1990 Eastern Conference Finals, but this time in seven games. Jordan had begun to survive the defensive onslaught of the Jordan Rules, but his evolving yet inconsistent playmaking ability would run hot and cold throughout.

Then, there was the shaky Game 7 health status of Scottie Pippen that ultimately did them in. Jordan averaged 32 points, seven rebounds, and six assists with two steals in the Conference Finals shooting nearly 47 percent from the field. Yet, Pippen’s woeful 1-10 performance in Game 7 has been accredited by many people alike as the back-breaker for the Bulls that night.

The Bulls turned the eventual corner in 1991, but Michael identified the closeness of 90 as the ultimate gauge of how close they were to championship immortality. The whole team strengthened their physical bodies in the offseason to gear up for the punishment Detroit would give the team in a future playoff meeting.

MJ had added extra pounds to be able to “administer punishment” against his opponents rather than take it. Yet, the most important factor was the talented emergence and mental fortitude of Scottie Pippen. On the floor, he averaged 22, seven, and five along with three steals in the Bulls four-game sweep of the Pistons in the 1991 East Finals.

Yet, when Detroit Piston Dennis Rodman delivered a late push that sent Scottie crashing onto the baseline four in game four, he didn’t waver and continue to complete a solid performance in a 115-94 series-clinching victory (23 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, three steals).

Michael continued to be a dominant scorer in the team’s win vs. Detroit but his assist average (seven per game) was the ultimate factor. Jordan was second on the team in assists in the series, and by adjusting and adapting as a playmaker within the ever-evolving Triangle Offense, he was able to neutralize the defensive attack of the Bad Boys and come out victorious. It was a conquering achievement that Jordan was able to seize and never relinquished on his way to the first of six NBA championships.