Fierce divisional rivals, Michael Jordan and the Bulls ran up against Isiah Thomas and the Pistons in four consecutive playoffs. Three of the four series determined who would play in the Finals. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

New York, March 12, 2003 -- When Michael Jordan makes his final regular-season visit to The Palace of Auburn Hills on Friday night as the Washington Wizards take on the Detroit Pistons, it will revive memories of one of the NBA’s most spirited rivalries, that between the Pistons and Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Jordan’s appearance is part of the Pistons’ “Rivals Week” at The Palace, which began with a game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night and concludes with a visit by the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.

The rivalry between Jordan’s Bulls and the Pistons heated up in 1988, when the two teams met for only the second time in the NBA playoffs. The first match-up came in 1974, when the Bulls won a seven-game series by two points in Game 7 when both teams were in the Western Conference. That series featured such stars as Chet Walker, Bob Love, Jerry Sloan and Norm Van Lier of the Bulls and Hall of Famers Bob Lanier and Dave Bing of the Pistons.

By 1979-80, both teams had slid toward the bottom of the NBA -- Detroit’s 16 wins were the fewest in the league and Chicago’s 30 were fourth in futility. The drafting of Isiah Thomas by Detroit in 1981 and Michael Jordan by Chicago in 1984 would start both clubs back on the road to the top. Detroit had a head start, and when the two teams met in the 1988 playoffs, the Pistons already had virtually all the pieces of their championship puzzle in place while the Bulls were still trying to mix Jordan’s brilliant individual skills with the right supporting cast.

The teams were very different. The Pistons were tough and physical, with rugged frontcourtmen like Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn backed up by energetic youngsters John Salley and Dennis Rodman. Detroit also had a potent trio of backcourt scorers in Thomas, Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson and a high-scoring forward in Adrian Dantley, and had added a post-up scoring threat by obtaining 7-footer James Edwards from Phoenix in midseason. The Bulls were more of a finesse team led by the incomparable Jordan, who in 1987 began a string of seven consecutive NBA scoring titles. But they had no other reliable scorers, as Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant were just beginning to feel their way as NBA players, and little inside presence beyond forward Charles Oakley.

Doug Collins, coach of the Bulls in 1988 and now Jordan’s coach with the Wizards, says the Pistons’ playoff victory over Chicago that year was instrumental in Detroit’s evolution into a championship team. Detroit had outlasted Washington in five tough games in the first round, and after winning the series opener against Chicago, the Pistons came out flat in Game 2 and got beat 105-95 on their home court. It was a reality check for the Pistons, time for them to show whether they were title contenders or just pretenders.

“Doug Collins was right,” said Thomas. “The loss in the second game made us a better team and propelled us to within seconds of the NBA championship. We came out for Game 3 fighting mad. We didn’t know it at that time, but that game was a turning point, and our future was about to change dramatically.”

The Pistons were a determined bunch as they invaded the “Madhouse on Madison,” cacophonous Chicago Stadium, for Game 3, and fuel was added to the fire when Jordan and Laimbeer got involved in a scuffle in the opening minute. The incident seemed to rattle the Bulls, however, and bring the Pistons together. Detroit took control early on, silenced the crowd and never let the Bulls into the game, easing to a 101-79 victory. The next day it was more of the same as the Pistons’ smothering defense stifled the Bulls 96-77. And returning to the Silverdome for Game 5, the Pistons closed out the series with a 102-95 victory even though Thomas briefly was knocked unconscious by a Jordan elbow that added to the animosity between the two teams.

Detroit’s strategy for containing Jordan was to play him tough, to physically challenge him and to vary its defenses so as to try to throw him off balance. Sometimes the Pistons would overplay Jordan to keep the ball from him. Sometimes they would play him straight up, more often they would run a double-team at him as soon as he touched the ball to try to force him to give it up. And whenever he went to the basket, they made sure his path was not uncontested. It was the beginning of what would come to be known as the “Jordan Rules” and would be a part of the NBA playoffs for the next three seasons.

The Pistons beat Boston to advance to the NBA Finals in 1988 before losing a tough seven-game series to the Lakers. They ached for a rematch in 1989, but to get one they had to get past Chicago once again, this time in the Conference Finals. The Bulls, who had added 7-footer Bill Cartwright to try to become more physical at center, won the series opener to take away home-court advantage, but Detroit got it back with an 86-80 win in Game 4 at Chicago Stadium, limiting Jordan to only eight shots in the game. The Pistons won the next two games to close out a six-game series in which Chicago could not reach the 100-point mark in any game. That defense would play a major role as the Pistons swept the Lakers in the Finals for their first NBA title.

Detroit had repeat on its mind in 1989-90, and again the Bulls stood in their way in the Conference Finals. Each year Chicago seemed to be getting closer to the top, and now, coached by Phil Jackson, the Bulls felt they were ready to dethrone the Pistons. But Detroit’s home-court advantage would prove significant this time, as the Pistons won all four of their home games of the best-of-seven set and held Chicago to fewer than 82 ppg in those games. In Game 7, with John Paxson sidelined by a sprained ankle and Pippen on the bench because of a migraine headache, the Pistons smothered the Bulls 93-74. Less than two weeks later, they completed a 4-1 win over Portland to successfully defend their title.

By the 1991 playoffs, when Detroit and Chicago met for the fourth consecutive year, the Pistons were aging and the Bulls were charging. Chicago had posted 61 wins in the regular season, the most in the East, and had beaten Detroit 95-93 at The Palace just before the All-Star Game in what Chicagoans saw as a statement game. They were not about to be pushed around by the Pistons again, and when they met in the Conference Finals, they proved it. They solved Detroit’s defense to the tune of nearly 107 ppg and swept the Pistons, ending the series with a 115-94 win at The Palace.

Chicago had dethroned the champion Pistons, and went on to capture the vacated title by beating the Lakers in five games in the NBA Finals. While it was the start of the Bulls’ first three-year run of championships, it would be the last time they would face the Pistons in the playoffs in one of the league’s most intense rivalries.

“Rivals Week” began with the Pistons hosting the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, and concludes with a visit from the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.