The Pistons would not be denied any longer. The 1988-89 season concluded with Detroit's first-ever NBA championship, signaling the end of an era. The league’s marquee matchup had come to a close. Another was quickly taking its place.

Everyone seemed to sense it, even the NBA schedule-makers. The Pistons opened the 1988-89 season at Chicago and won, 107-94. The Pistons won all six regular-season meetings with the Bulls, including two overtime victories at Chicago Stadium. They finished 63-19, the league’s best record and the most wins in Pistons history.

The Bulls, despite a 50-win season the year before, realized they couldn’t compete against the Pistons with a roster of “Jordannaires” being carried by scoring champ Michael Jordan. The Bulls changed over half their roster, seven players, from the 1987-88 season, and their regular-season record slipped to 47-35, fifth in the Central Division.

The Bulls gelled in time for the postseason, defeating Cleveland in the first round and then, as the No. 6 seed, toppling the Atlantic Division champion New York Knicks. The Pistons, meanwhile, continued to cruise. They won their first seven playoff games, sweeping a Boston Celtics team without Larry Bird and then the Milwaukee Bucks.

This set the stage for a stunning opener to the Eastern Conference finals – a Bulls victory in Game 1 at the Pistons’ new home, The Palace of Auburn Hills. Jordan scored 32 in the 94-88 surprise. The Pistons evened the series in Game 2, but Jordan struck again, dropping 46 points in Game 3 at Chicago. The Pistons, the NBA’s dominant force all season, found themselves in a 2-1 series hole.

The Pistons’ implemented “The Jordan Rules” to their fullest the remainder of the series, the not-so-secret plan to swarm Jordan with several physical defenders, primarily Joe Dumars and defensive dynamo Dennis Rodman. It worked. The Bulls scoring average dropped from 94.7 points in the first three games to 86.3 in Games 4-6, and Detroit won all three. Jordan scored 41 points combined in Games 4 and 5, and the Pistons clinched the series in Chicago despite Jordan’s 32 points in the finale.

In their second consecutive NBA Finals appearance, the Pistons swiftly avenged their loss to the Lakers the previous year, sweeping Los Angeles to capture their first NBA championship. Dumars was named Finals MVP.

The Pistons’ march to the 1989 title was as dominating as any in history, with sweeps of their primary antagonists of years past, the Celtics and Lakers (albeit not at their full strength). Detroit’s only two postseason losses came to a Chicago team that had been together for one year.

The Pistons were, without a doubt, the best team in basketball in 1989. There was also no doubt who the greatest threat would be to their crown.