The 1980s NBA wasn’t for the faint of heart. In one playoff series alone, the Detroit Pistons racked up more than 100 personal fouls – a brutal display that earned them the infamous title, “The Bad Boys.”
Kevin McHale, a three-time NBA champion, thought he had seen it all. But after ignoring Isiah Thomas’ warning about Detroit’s punishing style, he became another victim of their bruising, no-mercy defense. As he walked off the court, one thought lingered: “They couldn’t play any dirtier.”
“I knew Isiah. Isiah and I were roommates back even in the Pan Am Games,” McHale recalled.
Before every game, McHale made sure to get inside the heads of Detroit’s bruisers. “Like before the game, Mahorn and Laimbeer would be there, and I used to go like, Hey Zeke, I’m gonna bust these guys’ fat a**es for you.”
His trash talk didn’t stop once the game ended. “After the game, he’d go, Quit doing that, man.” But McHale never backed down. “I’d be like, They can’t play any dirtier.”
Detroit’s enforcers weren’t the ones to let that slide. “Mahorn said, Oh, man. I’d say, I’m busting that fat a*.* He’d go, I’ll foul you every time. I’d be like, That’s 12 free throws.”
McHale’s relentless verbal barrage gave his team a mental edge over the opposition.
Isiah Thomas then recounted another incident that took an icky but hilarious turn, saying, “You know we couldn’t stop him, so McHale had this thing, every time he points out a free throw, he had to go get the towel under the basket and wipe his hands, so Mahorn started to go and blow his nose into the towel. He would blow his nose on that towel and throw it under there.” This hilarious incident was probably unknown to Kevin McHale and it incited laughter from everyone in the studio.
Isiah Thomas: A trash-talking extraordinaire
Isiah Thomas was never one to back down from a verbal battle. As one of the most competitive players of his era, he used trash talk as both a mental weapon and a form of entertainment. One of his most infamous exchanges came against Michael Jordan during the late 1980s. To rattle MJ, Thomas and the Pistons employed their signature “Jordan Rules.” The Pistons’ infamous ‘”Jordan Rules” were built to dismantle him physically and mentally. And Thomas made sure to add some verbal daggers. While Jordan eventually overcame them, Thomas’ verbal barbs made every encounter a psychological war.
Another iconic moment came in his duels with Magic Johnson. Despite their close friendship, Isiah Thomas wasn’t above throwing a few well-timed jabs to get inside Magic’s head. Whether it was a playful insult before a game or a mid-court challenge, Thomas knew how to make his words sting just enough to make an impact.
Feb 17, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Former basketball player Isiah Thomas attends NBA All Star Saturday Night at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
Perhaps his most controversial trash talk moment occurred in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics. After Larry Bird dominated a game, Thomas famously remarked that if Bird were Black, he’d be “just another good player.” The comment sparked widespread debate and only intensified the already bitter Celtics-Pistons rivalry. Thomas later clarified that he was repeating Rodman’s words rather than making the claim himself, though the controversy persisted.
Love him or hate him, Isiah Thomas was a master of the mental game.
Fiery or playful, these moments define NBA rivalries. They humanize the legends we admire, showing that even the toughest competitors have their limits, especially when it comes to well-timed trash talk. And for Kevin McHale, getting Isiah Thomas to admit defeat in a war of words might just be as satisfying as any victory on the hardwood.
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