Ryan Jones sees M.J.’s Flu Game and says where’s the love for Isiah’s Ankle Game?

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed The Good Men Project‘s ‘Talking to Talking Balls‘ series (and not just because they let me participate) that is expanding on the weird NBA talking balls commercials with even more awesome Finals moments that deserve to be immortalized.

The latest is from Ryan Jones, a contributing editor at SLAM. He imagines the talking ball discussing Isiah Thomas’s heroic performance in game six of the 1987 NBA Finals against Los Angeles:

"Isiah Thomas, Game 6, 1988 Finals v. Lakers, when Isiah severely sprained his ankle en route to a Finals-record 25 points in the third quarter. In the voice of the ball.The flu game was bullshit. That’s what Isiah told me afterward. Said he never bought it, said he knew Jordan was faking. You know, those guys had some history (laughs). To Zeke, that was just MJ trying to one-up him again. Maybe. I don’t know. How do you prove something like that?"

It’s nice to see Isiah get some love. At times, it feels like only people in Detroit remember how great he was.