Mvp's Message: Don't Doubt Isiah Thomas

PORTLAND - Maybe it will be the last play Coach Chuck Daly and captain Isiah Thomas ever diagram together. Certainly, it belongs in some hoop Louvre.

Tied at 90, one shot away from back-to-back NBA championships, Thomas and the soon-to-maybe-be retired Daly set the Pistons in a 1-4 alignment.

Thomas dribbled above the foul circle. The scalding-hot Vinnie Johnson stood in the corner, to Thomas' right, close enough to the Piston bench to be hand-checked by Daly. Thomas and Johnson - Lethal Weapons II.

The clock ticked, the Pistons' place in history hung in the balance. Thomas penetrated, then passed the ball to Johnson with four seconds left. Briefly, the 6-foot-2 Johnson turned his back to the basket, then turned back around, drifted to his left, and off balance, over 6-foot-7 Jerome Kersey, nestled into the net the title-winning, 15-foot jumper with seven-tenths of a second left.

A game that had been hopelessly lost just two minutes earlier was theirs. A 102-game season that had been grueling beyond their imaginations had been won.

The Detroit Pistons won another NBA championship last night, beating the Portland Trail Blazers 92-90 to capture the best-of-seven series, 4-1.

The Pistons became the first team in 37 years to win three straight championship games on the road and the third to win back-to-back titles. They took their rightful place next to the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers as a team for all time.

``Collectively, we think we are a great basketball team,'' said Laimbeer, who grabbed 17 rebounds. ``We don't think anyone can touch us at the moment. How many more years we'll be able to keep this up remains to be seen.''

They trailed by seven with 2:07 to go and still won, on the road, with about 12,000 Portland fans cheering against them.

``I didn't think, in my wildest imagination, that a team could come in here and win three straight,'' Blazer guard Terry Porter said.

There is very little ``Showtime'' in the Detroit Pistons. They don't score 125 points a night. They don't dazzle you with aerobatics. Their guts-and-grit style doesn't translate well on highlight films. They win with defense. It isn't a style that is likely to catch on.

``Too much work for most teams,'' Laimbeer growled.

The Pistons come at you with a powerful bench, a combination of defensive muscle and scoring. They have the deepest punch. Their three guards - Thomas, Johnson, Joe Dumars - are the best trio an NBA final has seen since Seattle's Dennis Johnson, Gus Williams and Fred Brown lit up the Washington Bullets in 1979.

And, in Thomas, they have that one marvelous talent, that charismatic leader who can carry them on the nights the ball feels as heavy as lead and the weight of the game wears on their shoulders.

We always knew Isiah Thomas was good. Now we know he is great. He won the first game single-handedly. He had unstoppable stretches in the the third and fourth games. This series was his showcase, his argument to be placed among the elite.

Thomas has struggled for respect. Partly, it is the Pistons' plodding, defensive style that hides his talents. Partly, it is his penchant for giving the team only what it needs - some nights defense, some nights passing, some nights points.

His good friend Magic Johnson of the Lakers is a constant. But in big games, at the most important times, Thomas, like Boston's Larry Bird, is able to raise his game a superstar's notch.

In the first half last night, when his teammates shot a combined 11 for 32, Thomas hit 9 of 15. He had 15 of the Pistons' 26 first-quarter points. He refused to let Portland take command.

He suffered a bloody nose in a collision with seven minutes to go, then came back to make the tying basket with 36 seconds left. He scored 29 points last night, averaged 27.6 in the five games and was the landslide MVP winner. He frustrated Porter and led the Pistons in assists.

``The team is Isiah's personality,'' Laimbeer said. ``Our determination, our desire, our heart all revolve around him. When Joe Dumars won the MVP last year, we all were happy for him, but I had a sinking feeling in my heart. I felt very sorry for Isiah because it should have been his for all of the years he played for the Pistons. Now that he's received the award, I feel so warm and happy for him.''

Respect has come grudgingly for Thomas, a nine-year veteran. Maybe it's because his early Piston teams were sloppy and erratic. Maybe it's maybe because people had trouble believing a skinny, 6-1 guard could dominate games the way Thomas can.

Thomas didn't make the first, second or third all-NBA teams this season. He played in the giant shadows cast by Magic, Michael Jordan and Kevin Johnson. Some believed his best basketball was behind him. But on his third consecutive trip to the NBA final, Thomas won his second consecutive ring.

``The thing I had to do was make a decision about whether I was going to try to look good for you guys statistically, or was I going to be a winner?'' Thomas said. ``I had been a winner all my life.

``In this league, you have to win in different ways. I wasn't going to be able to win here with a bag of statistics and looking pretty and looking flashy and looking good. I guess I had to be a little dull. You can say whatever you want about me, but you can't say I'm not a winner. That's something I know how to do.''

In the end, this series didn't need Magic or Bird Julius Erving or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It didn't need Boston or Los Angeles. This wasn't a series for Madison Avenue. It was a series for serious fans. It was the two best teams playing tense, emotional, skillful basketball.

The Pistons won because they were better. They had Isiah Thomas; the Trail Blazers didn't.

Steve Kelley's column usually is published Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Sports section of The Times.