Ryan Van Dusen: ‘Bullets Push Pistons To The Limit in 1988 Playoffs ‘

Source:Ryan Van Dusen– Bullets center Moses Malone.

“Washington Bullets guard Jeff Malone averaged 25.6 points over five games and nearly propelled his team to an unlikely upset over the Detroit Pistons in the 1988 playoffs. Malone scored 35 points on 15-of-22 shooting in Game 3, including 4-of-4 in overtime, sparking Washington’s retort after dropping the first two contests of the series. At a loss as to how to cool off an opposing two-guard on an unconscious run, Chuck Daly appealed to his secret weapon for the deciding Game 5. In lieu of Joe Dumars, Daly assigned the task of slowing Malone to the 6-foot-8 Dennis Rodman, who held him to just 1-of-12 shooting and four points in a 99-78 rout.”

From Ryan Van Dusen

In 1988, the Detroit Pistons were still somewhat in transition from a team that annually win 45-50 games, but go out in the 1st round of the playoffs, to a team that was becoming a great, dominant, NBA championship team.

The 1988 Bullets, whatever they lacked in chemistry and coaching, made up for in talent. They had a lot of firepower on that team, including off the bench, with players like John Williams. It wasn’t just Moses and Jeff Malone, but Bernard King was on that team, as well as Terry Catledge.

So when the Bullets played a team that didn’t respect them, which is what the Pistons didn’t, especially after beating them easily at home during the 1st two games of that series, the Bullets could catch you napping and beat you. Which is what they did to the Pistons, even as a 7th seed, 2/3 games in that series.

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CBS Sports: NBA 1988-Chicago Bulls @ Detroit Pistons: Fourth Quarter

Source:CBS Sports – The start of a great NBA rivalry.

“NBA 1988 Chicago Bulls vs Detroit Pistons”

From CBS Sports

You can also see this post on Blogger.

The Chicago Bulls weren’t that bad in 1988, they were actually good winning fifty games, but were still developing as a team and still not good enough to beat a team like the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers.

The Bulls had Horace Grant developing at power forward with Charles Oakley still having that position, who was very solid and very good for them. But the Bulls by the late 1980s were moving to become a quicker, more athletic, trapping type of team on defense. That moved the ball a lot on offense to the open scorer.

The Bulls traded Oakley in the offseason. And made Grant their starting power forward for the next season. Scottie Pippen wasn’t even starting for the Bulls during the 1988 season.

So the Bulls were still about Michael Jordan on offense, with Orlando Woolridge as their second option. Who at times was very good, but not a great player.

And the Pistons were one of the teams that they had to get by in the Central Division to accomplish what they wanted, which was to win the NBA Finals. And this was the start of the Bulls-Pistons rivalry, which is still alive today, but not as strong.

The Pistons in 1988 were an NBA Finals contender, but better than they were in 1987. Because they had already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals and lost it and knew they were very close to what they wanted which was an NBA Championship.

And if Isiah Thomas doesn’t sprain his ankle of game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals, who knows maybe they win the championship that year. The Celtics were getting older and no longer had a good bench and the Pistons already knew they were good enough to beat the Celtics.

You can also see this post at FRS FreeState, on Blogger.

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