Sam Smith says it was MJ himself who triggered the Pistons' infamous walkout: 'Jordan completely diminished their whole run and said it was worthless'

The Detroit Pistons' walkout in Game 4 of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals is one of the key incidents in Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas's beef. Jordan took great offense at Thomas and some Pistons members hurriedly left the court even before the final buzzer sounded and did so without congratulating the Bulls on winning the series.

However, according to 'Jordan Rules' author Sam Smith, the incident would not have happened if MJ had not trashed the Pistons during an interview after Game 3 of that series.

"We were sitting in a group around Jordan, and he just eviscerated the Pistons when the Bulls were up 3-0," recalled Smith. "He called them unworthy champions, terrible people, an embarrassment to the NBA… And it went on for, like, a half hour. It was just stunning."

The Pistons didn't know of Jordan's comments until game day

Smith said that the 30-minute Jordan interview happened during the weekend and after the Bulls practiced at the Palace for Game 4. Since it was Sunday afternoon, it did not make the news.

The next day, however, MJ's comment was all over Detroit newspapers. When the Pistons woke up on game day, they were shocked to read the headlines. Because of this, Sam says he is sure it triggered the walkout.

"These are two-time champions who had been in the Finals three straight times (and it was almost four) and Jordan completely diminished their whole run and said it was worthless because of the way they played. I'm sure it was calculated in part by Michael to provoke them even more and rub it in, which was his specialty over the years," added the book author.

Isiah has always maintained that Jordan cried about something he invented

Thomas has addressed the walkout and the handshake issues countless times already and each time, his argument has always been that it was not a practice back then that the opposing teams shook hands after the game that ended the series. He claims it wasn't something that the Celtics and Lakers did when they won championships during the 80s.

"Up until 1991 when the Detroit Pistons got swept by the Chicago Bulls, nobody expected a handshake," said Thomas on 'The Mark Jackson Show'. "After 1991, and they said Isiah didn't shake Michael Jordan's hand, and Michael Jordan was like, 'Oh Isiah didn't shake my hand,' and they were crying about not getting their hand shook, that's when everybody started—after 1991—shaking hands."

Jordan never accepted Thomas' explanation. During the 2020 documentary 'The Last Dance, Mike said that no matter what you tell or show him, you can't convince him that Isiah wasn't an a**hole. Zeke may be correct about the post-game handshake. But Jordan had always been infallible to his admirers.