“That reminded me why I think this dude is the greatest basketball player ever” – Charles Barkley on why Michael Jordan overcoming the Pistons makes him the GOAT originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Michael Jordan followed the hard way to win.
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He was one of the best players during the first phase of his career, but a championship proved elusive. And standing in his way was the Detroit Pistons.
The Bad Boys of Detroit were a wall. Their defense wasn’t strategic; it was psychological warfare.
Their game plan was simple: to stop Jordan at all costs. And for three straight postseasons, that plan worked. But what Hall of Famer Charles Barkley sees in that struggle, in the bruises and the yearly heartbreaks, is exactly what separates Jordan from everyone else who’s ever played the game.
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Facing the fire
For Barkley, that gauntlet made Jordan head over heels over anybody in the GOAT debate.
“What he went through against the [Pistons], that’s what makes him the greatest player ever,” Barkley said. “No disrespect to Kobe [Bryant], because Kobe is the closest I’ve seen to Michael. No disrespect to LeBron [James], who is an amazing man, number one, and an amazing player.”
“But to get beat down like that and keep coming back, that reminded me why I think this dude is the greatest basketball player ever,” he added.
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And Barkley isn’t just speaking as a friend or former competitor. He watched it happen in real time, like the rest of the world.
In 1988, Jordan’s Chicago Bulls met the Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Detroit closed the door in five games. Jordan was incredible, averaging over 27 points, but it wasn’t enough.
In 1989, they met again in the Conference finals, and this time, Jordan upped the ante with 29.7 points per game. But again, Detroit’s infamous Jordan Rules took hold and trapped him early, forced him outside and hammered him in the paint. The Bulls fell in six.
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Then came 1990.
The same matchup.
The same stakes.
And for a moment, it felt like things might tilt. The Bulls pushed the series to seven games. Jordan had matured. His teammates were finding rhythm. The Pistons were aging. But in Game 7, the Bulls collapsed. Jordan was held to just 31 percent shooting and Detroit advanced again.
Three years. Three losses. And still, he came back.
Jordan’s resilience
It wasn’t just the talent, not just the stats, but the relentlessness. The obsession with getting better even after getting knocked flat. And in those losses, Jordan was sculpting the edge that would soon cut down the league. In the summer of 1990, he sought to bulk up.
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That summer, the Bulls icon changed the rules of engagement. Instead of avoiding contact, he leaned into it. He added muscle, going from 195 pounds to a chiseled 215. He doubled down in the weight room with Tim Grover, adjusted his nutrition and entered the 1990–91 season with a new look and a meaner tone. The Pistons wouldn’t push him around anymore.
“What they did to that dude three years in a row, for him to keep coming back, that’s what makes him the GOAT,” Barkley said.
When the rematch came in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals, it wasn’t even close. Jordan swept the Pistons in four straight games. Now, it was no more Game 7 heartbreaks and no more elbows without answers.
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Detroit’s defense tried the same tactics, but Jordan was no longer just a target; he was a storm. He averaged 29.8 points, 7.0 assists and shot 53 percent from the field. And this time, it was the Pistons who walked off the court in frustration, refusing to shake hands.
From there, the floodgates opened.
The Bulls won the title in ’91, then again in ’92 and ’93. After a brief retirement and baseball stint, Jordan came back and won another three straight in ’96, ’97 and ’98. Six championships, six Finals MVP awards and a perfect 6-0 Finals record.
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It’s why Barkley’s words carry weight. He played against Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Jordan and saw Kobe Bryant and LeBron James rise up. And for all of their greatness, none were developed in the fire quite like Jordan.
The Pistons didn’t just try to stop his scoring; they tried to break his will. But instead of folding, he turned the pain into fuel.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 19, 2025, where it first appeared.