New episode of the long rivalry between Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas. The former Pistons point guard recently said he doesn’t understand the Bulls legend’s animosity towards him. Listening to the words of the general-in-chief of the Bad Boys of Detroit, the attitude of His Airness could even be akin to a form of ingratitude.
As we know, Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan were not really the best friends in the world during the time spent on the floors of the Big League, between the second half of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s. An animosity between two players who added further spice to the Pistons-Bulls rivalry, to the struggle for power in the Eastern Conference after the Celtics era of Larry Bird. Among the mythical moments of this rivalry on the pitch, we obviously cannot help thinking of these 1991 Conference Finals concluded by a sweep in favor of the Bulls, at the end of which Chuck Daly’s players will return to the locker room without saluting their winners. Off-pitch, the most significant episode obviously remains that of Dream Team 92, from which Zeke would have been ousted at the request of MJ. Since, of course, the two men send spades through the media until today.
Guest in an episode of The Pivot Podcast released last week, Isiah Thomas spoke at length about his rich career and returned to the highlights of it. When returning to his beef with Jordan, which lasts until today, the now sixty-year-old man seemed to show more incomprehension than resentment over this whole story.
“I was outraged to watch the documentary (The Last Dance, editor’s note) of a guy who was an asshole with everyone, in which he calls me an asshole, when I was good with him and nothing else. […] You can go back to West Chicago […] That’s where I come from […] When Michael Jordan arrived in Chicago (in 1984, editor’s note), I made it easy for him to walk these streets. My family took care of him. My sister and her brother were friends. My nephew lived with Michael Jordan […] I was very good with him. I called his house during this period. So all that, ‘Isiah was a motherfucker,’ no, no, no, man, I was protecting you.”
Isiah Thomas seems, according to his words, to regret a form of ingratitude in the behavior of number 23 of Illinois. Perhaps he also feels some frustration with the fact of having seen the inhabitants of Chicago, his hometown, turn their backs on him to praise the idol of the Bulls. Zeke, we know, was not the last to have made some rivals during his time in the League, the fact of playing in a team highly hated because of his bad gestures (Bill Laimbeer if you read us) n certainly not helping to attract the sympathy of opponents. During his post-career, the Hall of Famer has nevertheless, it seems, gradually put water in his wine, until settling certain quarrels with his former enemies. The most striking example being his moving reconciliation with Magic Johnson in 2017 in front of the cameras of NBA TV. But hey, with Jordan it’s a different story, and from what we saw in The Last Dance, the current Charlotte Hornets owner doesn’t seem quite willing to forgive his rival.
Isiah Thomas seems to have trouble digesting, almost thirty years later, the treatment inflicted on him by Michael Jordan during their period of rivalry. An answer to come from His Airness?
Source texte : The Pivot Podcast