Most people view Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all time, but it’s safe to say that Detroit Pistons’ legend and Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas isn’t one of them. As a matter of fact, Thomas believes he was “dominant over Jordan” during the era when Pistons and Chicago Bulls were going head to head for a shot at the NBA title.
Thomas discussed his prominent and bitter on and off the court rivalry with Jordan during a recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast and used the opportunity to offer his view on the matter.
“Until ’91, when I basically had career-ending wrist surgery, up until then, my record against him and his team—it really wasn’t competition there,” – Thomas told Sharpe.
It didn’t took long for Thomas to double down on his statement.
“Just head-to-head, I was dominant over him” – he added.
According to Thomas, he didn’t view Jordan as his competition and instead was going against other game’s greats like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
You can check out the full conversation below.
Isiah Thomas and Detroit Pistons got the best off Michael Jordan for three consecutive seasons, eliminating him and his Chicago Bulls in Conference Semifinals in 1987/88, and Conference Finals in 1988/89 and 1989/90. Both times that Pistons got to NBA Finals after beating the Bulls in Conference Finals, they went on to win the NBA title.
Jordan and the Bulls got their revenge in 1990/91 when they swept Detroit in Conference Finals and won first of their six NBA titles in the ’90s.
