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| Dates | June 6–13 | |||||||||
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| MVP | Joe Dumars (Detroit Pistons) | |||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Lakers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1995) Michael Cooper (2024) Magic Johnson (2002) James Worthy (2003) Pistons: Joe Dumars (2006) Dennis Rodman (2011) Isiah Thomas (2000) Coaches: Chuck Daly (1994) Pat Riley (2008) Officials: Hugh Evans (2022) Darell Garretson (2016) Earl Strom (1995) | |||||||||
| Eastern finals | Pistons defeated Bulls, 4–2 | |||||||||
| Western finals | Lakers defeated Suns, 4–0 | |||||||||
The 1989 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1988–89 season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The series was a rematch of the previous year's championship round between the Eastern Conference champion Detroit Pistons and the two-time defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers. This, along with the 1983 NBA Finals, were the only two NBA championships of the 1980s not to be won by either the Lakers or the Boston Celtics; every NBA Finals of that decade featured either the Lakers or Celtics, and sometimes both (1984, 1985, 1987). Coincidentally, the Lakers were also swept in the 1983 NBA Finals, that time by the Philadelphia 76ers.
During the season, the Lakers had won their division, with Magic Johnson collecting his second MVP award. The team swept the first three playoff series (Pacific Division foes: Portland, Seattle, and Phoenix), resulting in a rematch with the Detroit Pistons in the Finals.
The Pistons had dominated the Eastern Conference, winning 63 games during the regular season. After sweeping the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, the Pistons beat the Chicago Bulls in six games, earning a second straight trip to the NBA Finals. In the season before, the Lakers had beaten them in a tough, seven-game series.
The Pistons won the series in a four-game sweep of the injury-riddled Lakers, marking the first time a team (Lakers) had swept the first three rounds of the playoffs, only to be swept in the finals. As of today, the Pistons are the most recent Eastern Conference team to sweep an NBA Finals. The Pistons teams clinched all four series on the road, which were later followed by the 1999 San Antonio Spurs and the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers.
For their rough physical play, and sometimes arrogant demeanor, Pistons' center Bill Laimbeer nicknamed the team 'The Bad Boys'. The name became an unofficial 'slogan' for the Pistons throughout the next season as well.
Following the series, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar announced his retirement at 42, after 20 years with the NBA.[1]
Pistons' guard Joe Dumars was named MVP for the series.[2]
Prior to the 2014 NBA Finals, the Pistons were the last Finals champion to have been runner-up to the same opponent the previous season as they did in the 1988 Finals.
- ^ "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Retires from Basketball". UCLA 100.
- ^ "Dumars, Joe". Detroit Historical Society.