“I’m angry, disappointed and mad as hell,” Joe Dumars said in the cramped visitors locker room at old Chicago Stadium, the loudest, most intimidating arena in NBA history. Then the Pistons punctuated the season with a sweep of the Showtime Lakers in the Finals, extinguishing the anguish of Game 7 losses to the Celtics in the 1987 conference finals and to the Lakers in the ’88 Finals – and affirming the belief that a Pistons win in ’89 was an inevitable natural progression.īut nothing seemed inevitable about it late on the last Saturday afternoon of May after Michael Jordan scored 17 of his 46 points in the fourth quarter to wipe out a 14-point Pistons lead and give the Chicago Bulls a 2-1 series edge plus home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference finals. Jack McCloskey’s daring trade of Adrian Dantley for Mark Aguirre in February 1989 puzzled outsiders for its inherent risk, but McCloskey saw it differently – and when the Pistons went 30-4 over the final 34 games of the regular season, it was hard to quibble with his vision. The farther removed from the first NBA title in Pistons history, the easier it is to become convinced it was an inevitability. Next up: A critical road win to hold off Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls during the 1989 championship season.) (EDITOR’S NOTE: continues its periodic look at some of the best and most significant games in franchise history.
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