Joe Dumars laments the Detroit Pistons’ missed chance to win the 1988 title originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Joe Dumars knew that if they wanted to win the 1988 championship, finishing off the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 was a must. Losing that game would give the Purple and Gold the momentum and potentially the title.
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The Pistons gave it their all and almost pulled off a win. That was until Kareem Abdul-Jabbar saved the Lakers with two free throws in the game’s dying seconds. The Pistons had a chance to reclaim the lead but were unable to get a decent shot up as time expired.
“We had a great opportunity to win,” a dejected Dumars said after that sorry loss. “I’m disappointed right now because of what the loss means. We were two points away from being world champions.”
Wasted title opportunity
Joe’s disappointment was understandable. It was a game that could have gone either way and the Pistons had their chances to take the lead. Instead, they were forced into a winner-take-all Game 7 with the decider to be played at The Forum in Los Angeles.
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Considering the only time the Pistons won at The Forum was in Game 1 of the Finals that season, the odds of repeating that weren’t good. Additionally, the Pistons entered the season finale with an injured Isiah Thomas, further casting a dark shadow on their title aspirations.
With Thomas unable to play his usual game, it would be up to Dumars to lead the charge. He responded with 25 points, leading six other Pistons with double-digit performances. But in the end, all that wasn’t enough to prevent the Lakers from winning it all and winning back-to-back titles.
James Worthy picked the right time to shine for the Purple and Gold, unleashing a triple-double performance. He finished with 36 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, enough to negate the efforts of the Pistons in that game.
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When the smoke cleared, all the Pistons could do was look back at the missed opportunity. Adrian Dantley, who was a non-factor in the last two games of that series, admitted it was a botched opportunity for the Motor City squad.
“We had them on the ropes, but we couldn’t get them down,” Adrian Dantley rued per Johnson’s recollection in his book, “The Life of Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson,” by Roland Lazenby.
Although the Pistons fell short, the experience of playing in the finals was a consolation. It was something that made them stronger and wiser, especially if they got a chance at the title once more.
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That opportunity came the following season. Detroit would go all the way to the 1989 NBA finals and against the Lakers once more. But only this time, the narrative was different.
Dawn of a new era
The Pistons got their revenge on the Lakers in dominant fashion. They swept the defending champions, giving the Pistons their first championship in franchise history.
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But that triumph was not spared from criticism. With Byron Scott and Magic Johnson dealing with hamstring injuries, pundits felt their absence aided the Pistons in their title conquest. Dumars begged to differ.
“If they (Johnson and Scott) would have been on the floor, we still would have come out and thought we were the best team. We played like it,” the 18th overall pick of the 1985 Draft stated via the LA Times.
Dumars had a point and it was unfair to deprive the Pistons of credit for their 1988-89 season run. They were hungry and bent on winning it all. Most of all, they broke the decade-long dominance of the Lakers and the Boston Celtics, introducing themselves as the new kids on the block.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 15, 2025, where it first appeared.