If you want to know how President Donald Trump might end up handling his election defeat, look no further than the Detroit Pistons’ Bad Boys — and Hip Hop mogul and actor P. Diddy?
CNN reporter Jim Acosta on Friday said he spoke with a Trump adviser who likened how the president might exit the White House to the 1991 Pistons exited the playoffs, when Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and several teammates walked off the court with 7.9 seconds remaining in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series, refusing to shake hands with Michael Jordan and the victorious Chicago Bulls.
Acosta said the adviser told him Trump could do the same when it comes to the presidential election, and might “leave the stage without conceding defeat.”
The adviser also called the president “a bad boy for life,” perhaps an unintentional — or intentional, who knows — reference to Diddy’s “Bad Boys For Life,” a hit song nearly 20 years ago.
Trump has refused to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, citing voter fraud claims in several states, including Michigan, with no evidence.
The Pistons, nicknamed the Bad Boys for their physical defense and rough attitude, were a contrast to Air Jordan and the up-and-coming Bulls. Detroit won back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990, ousting the Bulls in three straight postseasons in 1988-90 and keeping Jordan’s Bulls from fulfilling their promise.
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That changed in 1991, when the heavily favored Bulls were about to sweep the Pistons. Before Game 4, Jordan was quoted as saying “The Pistons are undeserving champions. The Bad Boys are bad for basketball.”
That didn’t sit well with Thomas and Laimbeer, the Pistons’ leaders, who recalled a moment in 1988, when they were dethroning the Celtics as the East’s top team, some Boston players walked off the court with time still remaining.
They decided to do the same.
The Pistons’ infamous walk out vaulted into the spotlight again this summer during “The Last Dance,” a documentary series centered on Jordan’s Hall of Fame career and his final season with the 1998 Bulls.
[ Michael Jordan still mad over Pistons walk-off: ‘That hate carries over even to this day’ ]
Acosta’s report quickly gained steam on social media Friday evening.
Some reactions from Twitter:
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Donald Trump adviser likens president’s exit to Bad Boys Pistons
