There's no denying that the Detroit Pistons proved to be Michael Jordan's biggest adversaries during his early years with the Chicago Bulls. This was made abundantly clear in Sunday's amazing episodes of The Last Dance.
One of the more interesting aspects of the docuseries focused on how Jordan actually put so much effort into bulking up prior to their 1990-91 season. So much so, that the future Hall of Famer actually put on 15 pounds of muscle in preparation for the many battles he would have against the “Bad Boys” of Detroit.
Jordan opened up about his motivation in episode four of The Last Dance.
“I was getting brutally beaten up,” Jordan explained, via Sam Quinn of CBS Sports. “And I wanted to administer pain. I wanted to start fighting back.”
Then-Bulls fitness trainer Tim Grover also weighed in on the discussion, sharing how he helped MJ get to his ideal weight.
“We started at 200 [pounds],” Grover recalled. “We added five pounds until he got to 215.
“I would give him a certain amount of reps to do, but he would never stop at that number,” Grover said. “If I asked for six, I knew he was gonna do 12.”
Such is the supreme determination of the great Michael Jordan, and to his credit, this decision certainly paid dividends.
Chicago did not only win the season series against the Pistons that year, 7-2, but more importantly, they defeated their long-time nemesis in the Eastern Conference Finals. By vanquishing their demons, Jordan and company booked a place in the Finals that year, and eventually won their first ever title.
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