Having family from Michigan, I can tell you that Izah Thomas was as tough as they came. I remember two games which stood out. One was a regular season game against Utah and the other was game 6 of the NBA finals v the Lakers(the first time they met and lost). Against UTAH, Zeek wanted to make it a point that selecting John Stocton and not him was a mistake. On one play, Izah Thomas drives to the basket and Karl Malone(he was known as one of the dirtiest players in the league, good player but very dirty) elbows the guy. Izah gets stitches and in the 2nd half, after the smoke is cleared, Izah dropped like 60 on him. The message was you better kill me if you want me off the court.
Another game was game 6 of the NBA finals. Izah Thomas rolls his leg in the 3rd quarter on Michael Cooper's foot. He sprained his ankle badly. Bill Lambier was thinking, Dude how are you even going to get your shoes on? Izah limping on a bad foot, scores 25 points and forces a game 7. Players back then were just tougher back then. Now if that happens to a player, he will be out for 3-4 weeks. I am not even a Bad Boy Pistons fan but I salute Izah Thomas. All of those guys were great. Can you imagine if LeBald sprained his ankle in a game like that? I do not think he would be coming back. BTW Detroit got a bad call on that phantom foul call on Lambier. If you look at the clip, he didn't even touch Kareem on that play.
[video=youtube;BQRYE-p1muA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQRYE-p1muA[/video]
Another game was game 6 of the NBA finals. Izah Thomas rolls his leg in the 3rd quarter on Michael Cooper's foot. He sprained his ankle badly. Bill Lambier was thinking, Dude how are you even going to get your shoes on? Izah limping on a bad foot, scores 25 points and forces a game 7. Players back then were just tougher back then. Now if that happens to a player, he will be out for 3-4 weeks. I am not even a Bad Boy Pistons fan but I salute Izah Thomas. All of those guys were great. Can you imagine if LeBald sprained his ankle in a game like that? I do not think he would be coming back. BTW Detroit got a bad call on that phantom foul call on Lambier. If you look at the clip, he didn't even touch Kareem on that play.
[video=youtube;BQRYE-p1muA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQRYE-p1muA[/video]