Isiah Thomas Broke Down How The Bad Boy Pistons Would Handle Today’s Warriors

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TNT went with a different look for Monday night’s NBA broadcast, with former players calling the action of both games as well doing the studio show without a traditional play-by-play man or studio host.

The “Players Only” studio team was Chris Webber (serving as the host), Isiah Thomas, Baron Davis and Chris Bosh, and the crew handled things well despite being a little out of their usual element (Webber has been with NBA TV for years, so it made sense to have him run point on the show). The most enlightening segment of the night came from a discussion about the Golden State Warriors when Webber teed up Thomas to breakdown how his Bad Boy Pistons teams would have matched up with this year’s Warriors.


We have often heard former players boast that current teams couldn’t handle the old NBA style, but Thomas instead chose to explain how his Pistons were a team built more like a modern team than a team from the late ’80s and ’90s.

Thomas wasn’t talking reckless about how the Pistons would dominate, but instead noted that he felt they had the pieces to make for an intriguing matchup with players like himself, Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman to match up with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant. He also broke down what his strategy would be in guarding Steph Curry in one-on-one situations, which was insightful into the mind of one of the NBA’s all-time great perimeter defenders.

As much as anything in this hypothetical scenario, the thing that would probably matter the most would be what era is this game being played in. Part of what made the Pistons so great was their ability to toe the line between physical defense and fouling. That line has shifted dramatically over the last 25 years and what was once a gray area is now firmly considered fouling. The Pistons may have been built more like modern team with a stretch big man and a pick-and-roll style, but they still played a very different brand of basketball than is allowed or seen today.

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