Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan go a long way with their rivalry reaching its peak from during the 80s to 90s. Their NBA encounters are well-documented and it appears wound from that clash have not yet healed. It appears to have carried on until today.
Thomas may have added some salt to the wounds when he recently said that he was a more dominant player compared to Jordan during those years. The former Pistons guard said that as far as their head-to-head matchup is concerned, Thomas felt he was more dominant over MJ. The retired NBA star gave his take when he appeared on Club Shay Shay hosted by former NFL star Shannon Sharpe.
“It seemed like there was only one person who had a problem with it and that was Jordan. At that time, I didn’t realize–and even until I watched ‘The Last Dance’–I didn’t realize that he felt the way he felt about me. I had never had no bad words with him,” he said.
.@IsiahThomas says he watched 'The Last Dance' with "great fascination and disappointment"
"It seems like it was only one person that had a problem [with me on the Dream Team], and that was Jordan. Until I watched 'The Last Dance,' I didn’t realize MJ felt that way about me.” pic.twitter.com/IDIFS09WcF — Club Shay Shay (@ClubShayShay) November 11, 2020
For people who may have not witnessed it, the comments of Thomas may be nothing. But for those who lived it and got to watch the ESPN documentary “The Last Dance,” those words meant something. The two have taken shots at each other with deeper meaning. The only way to understand them is if one goes back through time to figure out how the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons rivalry went down.
Thomas was at his peak at the time while Jordan was on the rise. The Bulls always fell short of the Pistons, a club that had less-heralded stars that played physically. Being a rising star at the time, Jordan was someone that most tried to get physical with to throw off his game.
It was only in 1991 where the Bulls were able to get one over the Pistons. But it was also at that time that an infamous no-handshake incident took place. Chicago had swept the Detroit and the Pistons would leave the court with 7.9 seconds to go, aware they had lost the series, CBS Sports reported.
Thomas bats that it was not intentional. He even pointed to the Boston Celtics as the one who made that move famous in 1988.
However, unlike them, the Celtics did that for safety precautions and nothing else. Thomas is unlikely to explain anything further. The only thing obvious right now is the old wounds have not healed between him and Jordan.
