Another important changer in the history of this team was their migration to the city of Detroit in 1957 to the pleasure of the masses since the city was missing out on national participation in many game fronts. The team originally played at the Olympia Stadium and then migrated to the Cobo Arena.
The team has been blessed with some of the greatest players to ever play NBA. The 1960’s till the late 1970 was a whirlwind for the team giving them some bizarre ups and downs. These years formulated and honed the dynamics of the team. Detroit Pistons were able to see players like
Dave DeBusschere, Dave Bing, Jimmy Walker, and Bob Lanier grace the team with their presence and fight through the years for anticipated glory. At one point DeBusschere was the youngest player coach in the history of the NBA.
Their trade of DeBusschere was one of the best things that ever happened to the New York Knicks. He gave to his New York team two national NBA titles; something that the Pistons believed that they could have achieved.
And then in 1974, Zollner sold the team to Bill Davidson, who is still the principal owner. One of the first changes was after that was to change the home ground from downtown Detroit to the gigantic Silverdome in Pontiac. The Pistons stumbled their way out of the 1970s and into the 1980s, beginning with a 16–66 record in 1979–80 and following up with a 21–61 record in 1980–81. The 1979–80 team lost its last 14 games of the season.
From that point onwards the team improved and for the entire decade graced the crowds with spectacular performances and sensational scores. The fans now had something finally to hope for. In 1985 they faced the Boston Celtics who were completely astonished by the performance of the under dogs and had to keep up to cleverly change the game dynamics. Throughout the years the team kept on improving their style of the game and introducing other legends to the team. Rich Mahorn and Jo Dumars are all NBA greats who have played for this mammoth team.
The 1986-87 season was the most remembered season in the history of the Detroit Pistons. The team garnered players like Dennis Rodman, Adrian Dantley and John Salley that later became known as the “Bad Boys” of their era. These boys gave the team their first eastern conference finals in 1987.
Detroit Pistons
In the National Basketball Association there is a team known as The Detroit Pistons. This National Basketball Association is based in the Detroit metropolitan area. They advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth consecutive time. One short of the NBA record set by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s. Pistons’ first playoff series sweep since 1990. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons won games 1 and 2, but lost 4 in a row to the Cavaliers.
The Pistons’ 2004–05 seasons were distracting issues involving Larry Brown as well as were marked by a major controversy. Brown was promptly named head coach of the New York Knicks. In the history of American sports, Pacers-Pistons brawl erupted one of the largest fan-player incidents in the season’s first month. It resulted a great deal of NBA and media scrutiny as well as suspensions and heavy fines for several players.
In the interim, due to health concerns Brown was forced to leave the team on two occasions. He also became involved in a series of rumors linking him to other job openings. Pistons bought out Brown’s contract soon after the 2005 NBA Finals because of Brown’s health, and his alleged pursuit of other jobs during the season.
For more information about Detriot Pistons visit: http://www.detroitpistons-nba.com/
About the Author:
Peter Cohen calls Boston home and graduated from Brandeis University. He considers travel to be the love of his life and has already traveled to 5 different continents. He also has a passion for languages and has studied Arabic, German and Russian. While devoting his working life to writing for lifestyle magazines, he also takes out time for occasional event reviews.