1987–88 Detroit Pistons season
In the 1988 NBA Playoffs, they defeated the Washington Bullets 3–2 in the first round, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls 4–1 in the semifinals, and then Larry Bird and the top-seeded Boston Celtics 4–2 in the conference finals.
[2] Game 6 saw a remarkable performance, as Pistons star Isiah Thomas went down with a gruesome ankle injury.
Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar feinted over his right shoulder to the middle, then pivoted to his left for his classic sky hook along the baseline.
[3][4][2][5] The Pistons lost 103–102 as Abdul-Jabbar made both free throws, and then, with a very limited Thomas for game 7, the Lakers took the title with a 108–105 victory in Los Angeles.
[9] The Pistons players embraced the rough and tumble image, Nintendo released Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball, a futuristic basketball game without rules, without fouls, and weapons are permitted, the Pistons marketed around the Bad Boys identity, and Detroit fan embraced the blue-collar identity.
"[12] David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA at the time, said, "If I had it to do over again, we would be more aggressive in regulating, shall we say, that style of play, because it led to our game becoming much more physical".
[15] The Pistons had just dispatched the Celtics in six games, while the Lakers were coming off back-to-back seven-game wins over the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar then fired an inbound pass intended for Byron Scott, but it was intercepted by Isiah Thomas who let fly with another three-pointer which went in at the halftime buzzer.
Facing the possibility of going down 2–0 with three games to play in Detroit, the veteran Lakers found resolve with a 108–96 win.
James Worthy led the Lakers with 26 points, Byron Scott had 24, and Magic Johnson 23 despite battling the flu.
With pride in front of their home fans, the Pistons tied the series at 2–2 with a 111–86 blowout win.
Dantley played a major role in the turnaround, scoring 25 points, 19 of them in the first half, to rally the Pistons to a 59–50 halftime lead.
Joe Dumars added 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting to send the Pistons back to Los Angeles, one win away from their first NBA title.
On the Pistons' next possession, Thomas stepped on Michael Cooper's foot, rolled his ankle, and had to be helped from the floor.
Forty-one-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar then got the ball on the Lakers' trip down the floor and posted up Bill Laimbeer for his signature skyhook.
Chuck Daly then went to a faster lineup with Dennis Rodman, John Salley, Joe Dumars, and Vinnie Johnson that created matchup problems for the Lakers and enabled the Pistons to score at a torrid pace.
With 3:52 left, Salley canned two free throws to cut the Laker lead to 98–92, sending the Forum fans into a panic.
After Dumars made a layup, James Worthy hit a free throw and Bill Laimbeer canned a three-pointer, pushing the score to 106–105 with six seconds showing.
A.C. Green completed the scoring with a layup off a length-of-the court pass from Magic, making it 108–105, and although the Pistons got the ball to Thomas at midcourt with a second remaining, he fell without getting off a shot.
