The Detroit Pistons have absolutely no regard for national programming, airing a re-run of their 1989 title during MJ doc The Last Dance on Sunday
This Sunday night, as a Detroit Pistons fan, what are you doing? I’d reckon most are going to tune into The Last Dance, perhaps with an acrimonious state of mind.
Sure, the first part of the third episode will focus on the fact that the Detroit Pistons successfully game planned to mitigate the freakishly athletic Michael Jordan by keeping him from going airborne, but the latter half of episode 3 is going to remind us about Dennis Rodman switching sides later in his career and becoming a huge contributor to the Chicago Bulls championship runs.
As an alternative, the Pistons are running their 1989 NBA Finals tonight on Fox Sports Detroit at 8pm Eastern. Specifically, they’ll be playing the series-clinching and sweeping Game 4 over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Let's watch the Bad Boys win a title tonight.
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) April 26, 2020
Game 4 of the '89 Finals starts at 8 on @FOXSportsDet pic.twitter.com/9I4CIYpetl
The Last Dance starts at 9pm, meaning the climax of this re-airing is going to spill right over into the Pistons episode of The Last Dance. Good luck to Pistons fans trying to tune away from this game at 9.
Petty? Yup. Just because sports are on pause doesn’t mean we can’t still take sides.
Prior to advancing to The Finals in ’89, sweeping the Lakers, the Pistons had to get past Jordan and the Bulls. Led by Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Bill Laimbeer, the Pistons won the series in six games, closing out with three straight wins.
Jordan was held to below 20 points in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals that year and it was an early loss that motivated Jordan to become the finisher he would be known as by the end of his career. He had just hit “The Shot” against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the ’89 playoffs and took the Bulls further than most thought they would go given that the Cavs were favorites in the opening round.
Look, The Last Dance is incredible. It’s, for some, an awesome remembrance of one of the greatest dynasties and players in NBA history. For younger fans, it’s a detailed look providing perspective and understanding as to why Michael Jordan is held in such high regard by the generations before.
That said, Pistons fans can always DVR or come back to the MJ doc at another time, why not relive one of the greatest moments of Pistons history on Sunday night and be a little petty in the process?
Simply having a choice in what sports programming you want to watch on a Sunday night these days is something to be thankful for.