Every NBA team’s greatest playoff moment

Detroit Pistons: Isiah Thomas guts out ankle injury (1988 NBA Finals, Game 6)

Labeled both famously and infamously as the “Bad Boys,” Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons won two-straight NBA Championships in 1989 and 1990. With Chuck Daly at the helm and the likes of Thomas, Joe Dumars and Bill Laimbeer (among others) setting the tone, those teams are icons in the history of the NBA. Oddly enough, though, it was the legend-making performance in the prior year’s Finals by Thomas that goes down as their greatest playoff moment.

Taking on the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, Thomas was obviously the heart of the Pistons at the time. During the regular season, he put up 19.5 points, 8.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals per night at the helm of the offense and team. Thomas’ efforts in the first five games of the Finals had Detroit leading 3-2 in the series, but things looked dire due to an injury to the point guard. Nursing a nasty ankle injury, there were questions about if Thomas would play and if he’d be effective at all if he did. He answered those questions with authority.

Going toe-to-toe with Magic Johnson, Thomas gutted through the injury and pain and submitted a masterful Game 6 performance. In 44 minutes (an underrated feat given the injury), the Pistons star notched 43 points, eight assists and an exceptional six steals in the game. Detroit needed every bit of it, but could’ve used more from Thomas’ teammates. As Adrian Dantley and Laimbeer combined to go 3-of-15 from the field, Detroit lost Game 6 and eventually Game 7 and the Finals.

Even in a loss, though, that performance from Thomas showed where he belonged in the upper-echelon of the league. And really, the was the predecessor to the two titles that followed in the subsequent years.