Onto the Bad Boy Pistons, who may not have been a dynasty, but were at least memorable team.
Categories
Rings
The Pistons won the 1989 and 1990 NBA Finals. (8/20)
Non-Championship Years
The Pistons were barely lost to the Celtics in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals, then barely lost to the Lakers in the 1988 Finals when Isiah Thomas suffered an injury. After their back-to-back titles, they were swept in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals by the Bulls, and faded out. (8/10)
Peak Performance
The 1989 team went 63-19 in the regular season, swept the first two rounds of the playoff, beat the Bulls in 6 games in the Eastern Conference Finals, then swept the Lakers in the Finals. (9/10)
Star Power
The only real star on the team was Isaiah Thomas. The rest were role players, even former stars like Mark Aguirre. Dennis Rodman was an elite rebounder and defender, but not considered a star, particularly during his Pistons run. (5/10)
Coaching / Innovation
The Pistons ushered in the era of intense defense and intimidation that would be the defining style of the 1990s NBA. As the previous section showed, they were not pushed by stars, but by their system. Chuck Daly is considered one of the best coaches in NBA history. They also instituted the Jordan Rules to limit his impact, at least for a while. (4/5)
Legacy
Right before these championships, the Pistons moved from the Silverdome and Joe Louis Arena into the Palace at Auburn Hills. These championships established them as an elite franchise with the Lakers and Celtics. (4/5)
The Competition
The Pistons got past Larry Bird’s Celtics, then prevented the Magic/Kareem Lakers from completing a ThreePeat, and held Michael Jordan’s Bulls at bay. (5/5)
Achilles Heel
Almost literally, as they probably would have won the 1988 title if Thomas had not gotten injured. They could get rattled a bit, and didn’t have explosive scoring, but had balance such that shutting down one player wouldn’t do it, and the defense never went cold (4/5)
Bias Check
This was an easy team to hate, and they gave this 76er fan reasons to do so. Still, I was also happy to see a team beat the Celtics and break the Lakers/Celtics logjam. (0)
Summary
47 points, which I think is the highest for two-championship teams. Which makes sense as this was a team with a footprint.