Detroit Pistons

    Detroit Pistons 

Detroit Pistons were known to be “bad” in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, as that was the period of time in their history in which they were dominant. Speaking of their roster throughout time, there are quite a few Hall of Fame players who played for them, such as Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, Grant Hill, Dave Bing, Bob Lanier, Joe Dumars and so on. During those years, they formed a rivalry with the Boston Celtics, who were on a roll back then, and managed to beat them in the Eastern Conference Finals first time in 1988 in six games, after they lost some playoff battles against them in the previous years. The Detroit Pistons were known for their aggressive defensive style of play, and because of that they were nicknamed the “Bad Boys”. Isiah Thomas was the one in charge in that period and he was the “piston” of the team. They ended up losing the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games, because of Isiah’s ankle injury. The next season, they came back even stronger and managed to get the record for franchise wins in the regular season, completed by a trip to the NBA Finals, in a rematch with the Lakers. This time, they ended up victorious in clean sweep against their rivals, and Joe Dumars won the Finals MVP. In 1990 they were about to be back-to-back NBA champions, after beating Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games and then cruising past the Portland Trail Blazers in six games to win the NBA Finals, with Thomas winning the MVP. This marked the 3^rd straight Finals appearance for them, ended with a 2-1 record, which was not quite bad for them at that time. Coming into the next year, their run was ended by the Bulls this time, in a 4-0 sweep by Jordan and his guys. After Isiah Thomas retired in 1994, the Pistons were about to enter in the rebuilding mode. In 1994 they got another future Hall of Famer through draft, picking Grant Hill with the 3^rd overall pick, but he would end up leaving the franchise, joining the Orlando Magic in 2000. However, the team staff have gone through some changes, and finally they formed a strong team with Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, who was added through draft. This was another good era for the Pistons, in the East at least, as they were playing in the Eastern Conference Finals almost every year since 2003. In 2004 they won the championship again, against the Los Angeles Lakers, who were led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal back then. This would go as one of the most surprising win by Detroit in a Final, while Chauncey Billups won the MVP. Furthermore, after this period came to an end, from 2009 until present they got into all kinds of rebuilding processes, but didn’t seem to find a way to succeed again as of yet.