by Mitch Albom | Jun 1, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
SOMEWHERE IN THE SKY . . . — “So what do you think tonight?” I ask the man sitting to my left. “Pistons by eight? Celtics by eight? What do you think?”
“I think . . . ” he says.
I know what he thinks. He thinks Boston is on a roll after its last win. He thinks Boston will win tonight. But I say no. I say tonight is the Pistons’ night. I say Silverdome mystique prevails. I say tonight’s star will be . . . John Salley. Yeah. He hasn’t had a night yet. John Salley’s night. Tonight.
“Well?” I repeat. “What do you think?”
“I . . . uh . . . I don’t think–“
by Mitch Albom | May 31, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
It was everything they had, every ounce of desire, strength, guts. The Pistons kept the Celtics at bay with three minutes left, Danny Ainge missed a long jumper, but the Celtics got the rebound, Larry Bird missed a long jumper but the Celtics got the rebound, Robert Parish missed, the Celtics again. It was as if destiny was toying with Detroit, ignoring its blood. Two more times the Celtics would miss and get their own crazy rebound. And then Ainge, standing outside the three-point mark, sending an airborne bullet that swished. Through the heart.
by Mitch Albom | May 31, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
BOSTON — Danny Ainge threw up a shot, the Pistons scrambled madly for the rebound, and it flew over their heads, back into the Celtics’ hands. And another shot went up, this time by Larry Bird, and the Pistons scrambled, and again it caromed over their...
by Mitch Albom | May 29, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
The floor was thumping, the house was dancing, screaming, dying, waiting for a sign, an assurance, and here came Isiah Thomas, grabbing a pass and turning his back and bouncing it to Dennis Rodman on the baseline. And Rodman rose like destiny and slammed the thing through and hung on the rim with same sweat-soaked determination the Pistons have found to hang on to this crazy series. That was the sign. The Silverdome went insane.
by Mitch Albom | May 28, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
What was once a series has become a war. Every basket for a purpose now. Every rebound for a cause. The innocence of these play-off games has come crashing down like a piano from a 10th- floor window, and you need only visit any sports bar in this country today to know what we are talking about.
Detroit-Boston.
Game 6.
Look out.
“Lemme tell you something,” someone will say about this NBA Eastern Conference play-off game (at 9 tonight at the Silverdome). “Those Pistons really showed me something. They’re a hell of a team. They’re gonna win this thing.”
by Mitch Albom | May 28, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
Has this ever happened to you? You are screaming until your lungs explode for something you want desperately, passionately, but you are drowned out by 14,000 hysterical, towel-waving, beer-drinking fans? Well. No. I guess not. But that is where we left Chuck Daly...
by Mitch Albom | May 27, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
BOSTON — He sat at the scorer’s table with the radio announcer, Johnny Most. Out on the Boston Garden court his Celtics players were taking early warmups. The arena was not yet open to the public. There was only the gentle echo of balls thumping against hardwood. Few people in the building knew that K.C. Jones’ mother had died the night before.
“K.C.,” Most began, in his gravelly voice, “on behalf of myself and all our listeners, I want to express our deepest sympathy for your loss.”
by Mitch Albom | May 27, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
BOSTON — “BIRD STOLE THE BALL! BIRD STOLE THE BALL! BIRD STOLE THE . . .
” The words echoed across the New England airwaves, across cable television stations, they splashed onto morning headlines and morning talk shows and they pierced the hearts of every Detroit Pistons fan alive.
by Mitch Albom | May 27, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
BOSTON — Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. To win in Boston Garden, where the angry fans are so close, so thunderous, so hot you feel as if they’re sweating inside your clothes — to win here is nothing short of miraculous anyway. But to lose this way? On a stolen pass by Larry Bird in the final two seconds, a pass he dished to Dennis Johnson for a lay-up that put a stake through the heart of every Detroit fan? Unbelievable.
by Mitch Albom | May 25, 1987 | Detroit Free Press
CBS stopped him before he got off the basketball court. Channel 7 stopped him before he reached his locker. The PR director stopped him before he could undress; too many people wanted interviews. They needed a bigger space. This was Adrian Dantley’s...
