'07 and '91 Pistons Have Things In Common, A Little

The players trudged off the basketball court, and one by one they were greeted by the team's GM, tears in his eyes, as he embraced each one and gave a heartfelt pounding on the back. Except, the game was still going on, and in order to make it to Jack McCloskey, the Pistons had to walk past the bench of their vanquishers, the Chicago Bulls.

It was Game 4 of the 1991 Conference Finals, and the Bulls, the new kings of the court, were in the process of putting the finishing touches on a sweep, staging a complete and thorough overthrow of the basketball government. Going home would be the Pistons, two-time defending NBA champs. But they wouldn't be going without one last middle finger, so to speak.

They left, one by one -- Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, Vinnie Johnson, a few others -- and without so much as a glance in the Bulls' direction. The video images of Michael Jordan looking at his defeated opponents -- the team he had tried and failed to beat in the playoffs three straight springs -- with a look of incredulousness and bemusement, are priceless.

The Pistons, the Bad Boy Pistons, were painted, of course, as classless goons after the blatant snub of the victorious Bulls.

Last fall, over the telephone, I asked McCloskey -- retired and living in Georgia -- what he said to the players as they walked off the court that Memorial Day, 1991.

"I just thanked them, and told them how special they were," McCloskey said, conveniently disregarding the planned and indignant walk-off. But then, he hadn't planned it -- the players did. Thomas was the suspected orchestrator.

The '91 Pistons were in their fifth straight conference final. They had won three of them, and were about to lose their second in that time frame. Their capitulation to the Bulls was blamed, mostly, on simply running out of gas after years of basketball played into June. The series prior to the Bulls in 1991, the Pistons survived a classic six-game semifinal with the Celtics, the last of those two teams' great playoff battles.

The Pistons, modern version, have appeared in four straight conference finals. Their record stands at 2-2 in such series. Many believe, despite their recent pratfalls, that the Pistons should be there again, playing for conference supremacy, for a fifth straight year. It will be another test of endurance, playing basketball until late May, at least, and a year after fatigue was blamed for the conference finals loss to Miami.

This year's Pistons, optimists will tell you, aren't in the same boat, truly, as the 1991 team. They are slightly younger, and have a new player, Chris Webber, to inject some energy and confidence into their portfolio. And they have the chip on their shoulder of losing to the Heat last year. Optimists will tell you.

The pessimists, the ones with WDFN andWXYT on their cell phone's speed dial, will tell you that the "window" is closing , and fast, and that this is the last hurrah. Chauncey Billups might flee as a free agent. The Wizards are better. The Cavaliers, even, are better. And watch out for the Bulls. Pessimists will tell you.

The truth? Somewhere in between, as always. There's still time for the Pistons to jell and shake off these midwinter blahs. Still time to make a late run, and go into the playoffs with momentum, that ancient word. And also time to slip further back.

See? Somewhere in between.