Dennis Rodman’s storied and well-known Hall of Fame career is widely regarded for both of his plays for the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls. As it is, the fact that he managed to find himself playing alongside Michael Jordan and the Bulls – amid their historic rivalry when he was still a sworn member of the Bad Boys Pistons – is truly intriguing how basketball fate suddenly works its wonders.
Looking back, Rodman still has his vivid memory of how he and the Pistons were at their peak with Jordan and the Bulls being their legitimate threats to ultimate success.
War-like rivalry
As he recently guested in the “Undeniable with Joe Buck,” Rodman described what it was like colliding against Jordan and the Bulls when the Pistons were starting to position themselves to the Eastern Conference supremacy following Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics’ reign.
For Rodman, the Detroit-Chicago duel was considerably a “war” with how both teams were vying so much for the throne of the East in the late 80s.
"All of a sudden, we have a difficult time now; Chicago started coming up… we have to get over them now. So the Celtics, they're pretty much gone, then the Bulls started to come up, and it was a war every game," Rodman said. "I had to stop Scottie Pippen, Michael, those two guys were at us every game.”
Iron sharpens iron
Deemed as the “Jordan Rules,” Detroit imposed their suffocating defensive tactics to contain the scoring supernova of the young MJ. While the superstar was still able to grab his own opportunities using his godly talent, his hard carry wasn't enough as the collective Pistons team was too much and the focal reason for their three-straight postseason exits from 1988 to 1990.
But a year later, Jordan and the Bulls came out much hungrier and determined to take over. Both Detroit and Chicago once again met at the Conference Finals, but the latter finally got through the hump via a convincing 4-0 series sweep. From this moment, the Bulls have officially kickstarted their dominance in the NBA, and the rest is history.
There is no question that MJ always took it personally when the Pistons were at his front. In 22 playoff games, he averaged 30.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists over Detroit's physical schemes. These numbers are truly overwhelming, and Rodman can fully acknowledge that Jordan helped them reach the next level and eventually secure back-to-back titles.
"It was cool," Rodman said of Jordan’s brilliance. "Because he gave us the opportunity to work harder because we knew these guys was coming. But it's hard to keep that guy under 30 points, he was that good.”
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