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If Isiah Thomas wants to convince people that Michael Jordan doesn’t live in his head, he’s doing a bad job of it.
Thomas responded to a post on Twitter from The Inquisitr supposedly detailing the origins of Jordan’s rivalry with the Detroit Pistons legend:
Isiah Thomas @IsiahThomas
Stop lying this story is not factual or accurate, tell the truth man. Dr.J, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Sidney Moncrief and I did not freeze you out. If memory serves me correct I was injured most of the second half and Bird had a broken nose. Magic and Sampson dominated the game. <a href=”https://t.co/B000xZ2VGO”>https://t.co/B000xZ2VGO</a>
It’s unclear why The Inquisitr decided today was the day to run with this post. The story contained in the article doesn’t use any new quotes or information from Jordan.
In fact, the story is built around Jordan’s 1992 comments to Playboy magazine in which he claimed Thomas froze him out of the 1985 All-Star Game.
“If you go back and look at the film, you can see that Isiah was actually doing that,” Jordan said. “Once it started getting around that he was freezing me out, that’s when the ill feelings started to grow between us.”
The rivalry between Thomas and Jordan came back into the spotlight when The Last Dance aired in 2020.
Thomas said during one episode that Bill Laimbeer directed the Pistons not to shake the Bulls’ hands after Chicago swept them during the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals.
“As we’re coming out of the game, Laimbeer said: ‘We’re not shaking their hands.’ … Knowing what we know now, in the aftermath of what took place, I think all of us would’ve stopped and said congratulations like they do now. But in that period of time, that’s just not how it was passed. When you lost you left the floor. That was it,” Thomas said (h/t CBS Sports’ Brad Botkin).
Jordan, who watched Thomas’ comments on an iPad, responded by calling Thomas’ comments “bulls–t.”
“Whatever [Isiah] says now, you know it wasn’t his true actions then,” Jordan said. “[He’s had] time enough to think about it, or the reaction of the public that’s changed his perspective. … You can show me anything you want. There’s no way you can convince me he wasn’t an a–hole.”
Jordan only played 22 minutes in the 1985 All-Star Game, fewest of any starter on either team. He struggled in the game, scoring seven points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Thomas led all Eastern Conference players with 22 points and five assists. Ralph Sampson was named MVP of the game after scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for the Western Conference in a 140-129 victory.
The Pistons-Bulls rivalry was one of the best in the NBA in the late-80s and early-90s. They met in the Eastern Conference Finals three consecutive years from 1989-91, with the Pistons winning the first two until Chicago finally broke through in 1991.
The Bulls went on to win six titles in eight seasons from 1991 to ’98. The Pistons didn’t win another playoff series after that loss to the Bulls until the 2002 postseason.
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