Isiah Thomas threw the Boston Celtics under the bus during Episode 4 of ESPN's docuseries “The Last Dance,” noting the Detroit Pistons' infamous walk-off the court without shaking hands with the Chicago Bulls was customary.
The Pistons legend discussed how in a previous series in 1988, the Celtics had done just that to them after they were eliminated from the playoffs. However, Celtics staffer Jon Jennings disputed that, noting Boston did it for reasons of safety:
“What Isiah said simply isn’t true,” Jennings said by phone with Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. “I was sitting right behind [head coach] K.C. Jones.”
“K.C. and [assistant coaches] Jimmy Rodgers and Chris Ford were all talking about getting guys off the floor, because we were in the Silverdome, and you could just tell these folks were ready to storm the court. That is honest-to-goodness what that was about. It had nothing whatsoever to do with trying to show up the Pistons or a lack of sportsmanship. It was really the safety of those guys. I remember K.C. pointing at the guys, going down the bench and saying ‘OK, go to the locker room.’”
This could also be disputed, as it would have more validity coming from someone like Kevin McHale, who was the lone Celtics player who stayed to shake hands with Thomas and his Pistons that series.
Michael Jordan is still miffed by Thomas' lack of sportsmanship after his Pistons team was swept out of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, and no reasoning will validate Thomas' actions in his eyes.
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