41 years later, Bernard King still haunts veteran Pistons fans

The superhuman playoff series that Bernard King had against the Pistons in 1984 comes to mind, with another Detroit-New York postseason matchup waiting.

I’d wager that even today, some 41 years later, old school Pistons fans insert the F-word between Bernard King’s first and last names.

But before we dive into King and the destruction he did to the Pistons’ playoff hopes in 1984—all by himself, I should provide more context.

The spring before, in 1983, Pistons GM Jack McCloskey gave his coach, Scotty Robertson, the ziggy, after Scotty’s third year at the helm.

There were a couple of key factors.

One was that Scotty and his precocious young point guard, Isiah Thomas, didn’t always see eye-to-eye.

Isiah came into the NBA in 1981 and displayed creativity and passing panache that wasn’t normal. Some of Zeke’s own Pistons teammates weren’t ready for the quality and timing of the dishes he sent their way.

But when Isiah wanted to be more of a “shoot first, pass second” player, Scotty balked. The coach preferred that his point guard be a playmaker, not so much a scorer.

The other thing that led to Scotty’s cashiering was that the Pistons were weak defensively, and had been for all 3 of his seasons in Detroit.

“Scotty didn’t teach the kind of defense that I think is needed to win in today’s NBA,” Jack told the press after announcing the firing.

That turned out to be cruelly ironic one year later.

Jack hired Chuck Daly, who was at least his third choice, in May 1983.

The Pistons weren’t all that much better defensively in 1983-84, largely because their starting small forward, Kelly Tripucka, may as well have been a matador.

In fact, the Pistons surrendered the 6th-highest number of points in 1984, matching their performance in 1983.

But unlike the year prior, the 1983-84 Pistons made the playoffs with 49 wins—the franchise’s first postseason appearance since 1977.

The first round matchup would be Pistons-New York Knicks, best-of-five style. The Pistons drew home court advantage—sort of.

The first two games were to be played in the Silverdome, but Game 5, if needed, would be played downtown at Joe Louis Arena. The Pistons were again taking a backseat to a tractor pull or some such nonsense in the Dome. One of many instances of being supplanted in the Dome—which led owner Bill Davidson to build his own arena.

“The lighting is different. The atmosphere is different. The rims are different,” Daly moaned about possibly playing a series-deciding game at JLA.

Bernard King was an All-America forward who played college ball at Tennessee. He was the 1st round pick of the New Jersey Nets in 1977. But for a player of his brilliant talent, King moved around a lot: the Nets; the Utah Jazz in 1979-80; the Golden State Warriors from 1980-82; and then on to the Knicks in 1982.

In 1983-84, King averaged 26.3 PPG, made the All-Star team and finished 2nd in MVP voting.

The Pistons would have their hands full with Bernard and would have to figure him out if they were going to survive the Knicks.

They didn’t. Not even close.

King went off—and I don’t mean that casually.

The Pistons had no answer for him. King was 6’7” yet scored in the paint at will. He started the series with a bang and got better.

Game 1: King went 15-26 from the field and scored 36 points. The Knicks won. That was his WORST game of the series.

Game 2: King went 18-35 and scored 46 points. The Pistons won.

Game 3 (in NY): King went 19-27 and scored 46 points again. The Knicks won.

Game 4 (in NY): King went 15-25 and scored 41 points. The Pistons won.

So through 4 games, King averaged 42.3 PPG. Yet the Pistons would be at home for Game 5 with a chance to put the Knicks away.

They didn’t. Bernard King wouldn’t allow it.

The Free Press front page after Game 5 in 1984 showed the contrast in emotions between Bernard King (left) and his failed defender, Kelly Tripucka.

Playing in the hockey arena-turned basketball venue, King went 17-26 and scored 44 points as the Knicks survived in overtime, despite Isiah’s heroics late in the 4th quarter. Apparently the lighting, the atmosphere and the rims didn’t bother Bernard.

Series totals for King: 84-139 from the field (60 percent) and a PPG of 42.6.

If ever one man won an entire playoff series by himself, it was Bernard King in 1984 against the Pistons. His 42.6 remains the highest average for a playoff series of at least 5 games.

Daly tried everything to slow King down. Tripucka was clearly outmatched, so Chuck went to bigger men, like Cliff Levingston, Earl Cureton and Terry Tyler. Chuck used double teams. He did it all, short of running onto the court and tackling King himself.

Nothing worked.

King hit jumpers. King drove to the hoop and scored—often being fouled in the process (he shot 60 FT in 5 games). King grabbed offensive rebounds and slammed the ball home. King eluded the trees in the paint and somehow got the ball in the basket.

I know darn well that with today’s Pistons drawing the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, fans old enough to remember 1984 have Bernard King in their heads right now. How could they not? That first round series in ‘84 has been widely recognized in NBA circles as one of the best to have ever been played—at least for a series where the championship didn’t hang in the balance.

You had King on one side and the young Pistons of Thomas, Tripucka, Vinnie Johnson and Bill Laimbeer on the other. Defense was a rumor.

The coaches were Hall of Famers, too: Daly for the Pistons and Hubie Brown for the Knicks.

Daly waxed analagous after the series, in the wake of Game 5—speaking from his makeshift little office inside JLA.

“It was like a 15-round championship fight,” Daly said. “And the guy on his feet at the end wins.”

That guy was Bernard King.