Here’s when I started hating the Los Angeles Lakers

If you are a fan of the Detroit Pistons, it is your birthright and duty to hate the Los Angeles Lakers.

The recent dust-up between Isaiah Stewart and LeBron James re-ignited what used to be one of the NBA’s greatest rivalries and I am glad that younger fans get the chance to hate the Lakers as well.

The rivalry had died down over the last decade or more, as the Pistons haven’t been good and the two haven’t played any important games.

But it didn’t used to be this way, as the two teams were fixtures in the Finals for years and played some of the best playoff series in two different eras.

It’s always been a clash of styles as the Showtime Lakers and Bad Boys Pistons represented their respective cultures before Kobe and Shaq tried to do the same against the Goin’ to Work team.

In the end, the Pistons were able to win two of their titles against the Lakers, using defense to stymy the Lakers’ flash.

But it was the Finals that the Pistons lost to the Lakers that really set this rivalry off.

The Detroit Pistons/LA Lakers rivalry started in 1988 for me

The 1988-89 NBA Champion Detroit Pistons dispatched of the Lakers in a sweep, but most people forget what happened the year before.

The Pistons were up 3-2 in the series and trying to close it out on the road in LA and it looked like they were going to do it. Up one late in the game, Bill Laimbeer was called for slightly touching, bumping Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in one of the softest foul calls of the entire era, much less the Finals.

Pat Riley later admitted that the Lakers were the beneficiaries of what is now known as the “Phantom Foul.” Kareem hit both free throws and sent the series to a game 7, and it only got worse from there.

A back and forth game 7 ended in controversy when a Bill Laimbeer 3-pointer brought the Pistons within one point with seconds remaining. The Pistons didn’t get back on defense and allowed a run-out which put the Lakers up three.

This is when things got crazy.

The Pistons were trying to inbound with a chance to tie when the entire Lakers’ bench, a camera crew and a bunch of fans ran onto the court with time still remaining. Laimbeer somehow still got a perfect pass off, and Isiah was streaking up the floor to attempt the game-tying shot when he was egregiously fouled by Magic Johnson. The refs were so distracted by the fact that there were FANS ON THE COURT IN THE CRUCIAL PLAY OF GAME 7 OF THE NBA FINALS, and missed the foul completely.

You can watch a great recap of the ending here.

There was no guarantee that the Pistons were going to make that shot to tie the game, but they weren’t even given a chance. It’s hard to imagine that happening now, as there would have been technical fouls assessed and the Pistons would have at least had a chance to tie the game.

It was one of the worst losses in franchise history, one of those that has you staring silently at the TV for an hour after the game wondering what the hell had just happened.

It was at this point where my hatred for the Lakers and their fans was cemented for life, as the Detroit Pistons were robbed twice in the span of two games and what should have been a 3-peat was reduced to back-to-back titles.

The Pistons avenged that loss with a sweep the next year and again in 2004 with a “gentleman’s” sweep of Kobe’s Lakers, but I am still salty about the way 1988 went down.

Even if you weren’t alive or don’t remember, hating the Lakers is your birthright as a Pistons’ fan, which is why I was happy to see the rivalry kick off again. It might be awhile before Detroit is back in the Finals, but I’d settle for a win tonight in the meantime.