Four ten seconds. That’s how close the Detroit Pistons came to a championship in Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals. With a one-point lead over the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit had possession of the ball. Then the momentum changed: a referee made a highly publicized foul on the Pistons’ controversial center Bill Laimbeer. The decision left Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the balance; he made both free throws. LA went on to win in an equally dramatic Game 7 for the title.
This is a pivotal moment from a new book by Rich Cohen called When the Game Was War: The NBA’s Greatest Season. The book argues that the excitement, excellence and revolutionary star play of the 1987-88 season set an unparalleled standard.
“One of the reasons I love that season,” Cohen says, “is because I think it had the most Hall of Famers who were not only Hall of Famers, but at the top of the Hall of Famers, the top 20 of all times, the greatest players of that time.”
The book focuses on the four top teams of that memorable season, and their respective leaders. Magic Johnson’s Showtime Lakers captured their second straight championship. Thomas’s Pistons fell just short, but won the next two titles. Michael Jordan’s rising Chicago Bulls still had to wait for their incredible run of six championships in eight years over the next decade, while Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics saw their dynasty crumble, largely due to age and injuries.
Fittingly, that season’s finale featured plenty of drama, including between Johnson and Thomas. Despite playing on rival teams, they were old friends, and before every championship series match they kissed at center court. Then, according to the book, Lakers coach Pat Riley challenged Johnson to choose between his friend and his team.
“He made that choice,” Cohen says. “He laid out Isiah and knocked him down as he came onto the court. From that moment on it escalated.”
Both stars delivered clutch performances in the series. Despite a crushing ankle injury, Thomas nearly led the Pistons to a title. In Game 7, Johnson initiated a key sequence with a 360-degree spin move. In addition to the team leaders, there was a lot of talent on both teams. Although Johnson’s spin was a catalyst, it was his teammate James Worthy who ultimately scored, with AC Green wrapping things up with a layup in the final seconds.
Of the oldest player in the book, Cohen says: “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, you could argue, was the number one player of all time – certainly top three or four.”
The book is written in an engaging style, with occasional references to history and culture, even as it chronicles the harsh, expletive-filled story on the field and in the locker room.
“It’s just the way I experience the world,” Cohen says. “I always look for things that transcend the game.” But he adds that he wrote the book out of admiration for “the game, the players,” an admiration that also extends to those who have made unconventional choices in retirement. That list includes Detroit standout-turned-high school boundary guard Adrian Dantley.
As for Dantley’s teammate Dennis Rodman, the book chronicles his colorful post-Piston career, from joining the Bulls dynasty to relationships with Madonna and Carmen Electra to a visit to North Korea. “You probably know what happened to Dennis Rodman,” Cohen writes, “because it’s still happening.” He adds: “Of all the great players of his time, Dennis lived the strangest and most uniquely American life.”
In addition to the Championship level talent, there were many other brilliant players in the league that season. Atlanta Hawks star Dominique Wilkins was involved in an epic playoff game with the Celtics’ Bird. At the start of the historic partnership, the Utah Jazz had the duo of Karl Malone and John Stockton. Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler and Akeem (later Hakeem) Olajuwon impressed for the New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets, respectively.
“They all played at the same time,” Cohen marvels. “There was an incredible diversity of talent.”
As you might guess, the author is an NBA fan. He and his siblings grew up in the Chicago area and grew up playing basketball with their father as the hometown Bulls emerged as a contender. In 1987-88, when Cohen was 19, the sensational Jordan averaged 35 points per game. Yet the era was about more than scoring: Cohen also appreciated the defensive approach the Pistons used to shut down the Bulls star: the Jordan Rules.
Cohen explains that this unorthodox strategy meant Jordan had to score in the first three quarters of a game. Late in the third quarter, the tactics changed: When Jordan got the ball and approached the basket, Detroit beat him up. According to the author, the advantages were numerous: Jordan could get angry and lose his cool, or he could pass to a teammate who was open but hadn’t shot much at the time.
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“It wasn’t just a strategy for Jordan, but for his teammates as well,” Cohen said.
Depth, on the other hand, wasn’t an issue for Detroit. In addition to stars like Thomas, Laimbeer, Dantley and Joe Dumars, the Pistons had a strong supporting cast that included Rodman, Vinnie Johnson, Rick Mahorn and James “Buddha” Edwards.
“One of the things that made (the Pistons) so great — and why they aren’t ranked as high as they should be — is that their strength was depth,” Cohen says. “I think they would be very proud to say that no one on the team that won a championship the next year averaged more than 20 points a night. They spread it.”
As the book explains, the Pistons were in an ideal position to beat not only the Bulls, but also the Celtics. The rough play epitomized by Laimbeer was part of Detroit’s strategy to topple Boston, the 1981, 1984 and 1986 NBA champions, themselves a notoriously physical team.
Cohen paraphrases a quote from Sam Vincent, who played for both the Celtics and Bulls that season, about the Pistons’ plan: “We have to build an even meaner team than the Celtics, we have to outsmart the bullies.”
In general, says Cohen, “a team is built for a specific task – to beat another team.” The four teams profiled in the book “produced each other,” he says, and that season they were “all good at the same time.”
The book also details a series of controversies involving the players, including between Johnson and Thomas after Magic’s diagnosis with HIV in 1991. According to the book, the diagnosis severed their friendship – “word came out that Zeke had not called because Zeke believed that Magic was gay… Isiah denies this, but that doesn’t matter. This was the final nail.” The book also notes that some of the Nationals had their personal lives disrupted, including Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson of the Celtics, both of whom were charged with domestic violence, for which Johnson served time in prison. Thomas’ post-Pistons years have also come under scrutiny, including his disastrous tenure as head of the Knicks’ basketball operations, during which he was accused of sexual harassment and the team paid more than $11 million in a settlement.
While Cohen acknowledges these controversies, he also writes that the on-court action that season gave him a respite from the geopolitical tensions of the time – and that he believes the level of basketball excellence is the best ever. Emphasizing that last point sits on his desk with a memento: a rock from the long-destroyed Chicago Stadium, where Jordan made so many great plays. As Cohen puts it, “It evokes a time when the game was better than it ever was, or ever will be.”