How Lakers-Thunder Rivalry Compares to Pistons-Bulls Rivalry of the Early 90's

One thing that today’s NBA is missing as a whole is the presence of a few real rivalries, not only between individuals, but teams as well.

The 1980’s and 1990’s had plenty of them, but one that stood out in particular was between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons. Yet while we don’t have a ton of great NBA rivalries today, the one that’s brewing between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers has some similarities to that great Bulls-Pistons rivalry.

For those not old enough to remember, the Michael Jordan-led Bulls weren’t always winning championships.

Jordan and the Bulls had to learn how to win in the playoffs and more importantly how to close out good teams like the Isaiah Thomas-led Pistons.

Chicago couldn’t do so in the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Jordan was league MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and the ultimate challenge for the Pistons' top-notch defense, but none of that mattered as the Bad Boys sent Chicago home in five games.

Something similar happened in the Eastern Conference Finals the following season and even though Chicago had a 2-1 series lead, the Pistons employed the Jordan Rules and took the next three games.

Then in 1990, the Pistons defeated the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals yet again, this time in seven games.

It wasn’t until 1991 when Jordan and company finally broke through and defeated the Bad Boys en route to their first championship.

The point of all that nostalgia is that teams, no matter how great they are, seldom just show up and win a championship.

It’s a work in progress and that’s how Kevin Durant’s Thunder team compares favorably with Jordan’s Bulls teams.

ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Dave McMenamin offered a very interesting take on the Lakers-Thunder rivalry in a recent column when he wrote that the Lakers helped create this monster that the Oklahoma City Thunder have become.

The Lakers sent a young Thunder team home from the 2010 playoffs in six games en route to winning the championship, but Oklahoma City has been waiting for payback ever since.

McMenamin wrote:

"

Two years ago might seem like a lifetime ago in Laker Land, considering that back then Derrick Fisher was a teammate instead of an opponent, Phil Jackson sat on the bench instead of Mike Brown roaming the sidelines and Metta World Peace was still Ron Artest, but two years was enough time for the Thunder toddlers to grow into a team to be feared.

"

What Oklahoma City has done since then is start to learn how to win in the playoffs.

They reached the Western Conference finals a year ago and have their eyes on the bigger prize this season, but they are going to have to beat the Lakers to do so. They already dispatched of another thorn in their side in the Dallas Mavericks and if they were to go on and win the West, there would be no one they would rather go through than Los Angeles.

Thunder head coach Scott Brooks won’t admit that publicly, but he knows that getting through the Lakers is a step they must take to reach the heights this franchise is capable of reaching.

One other thing that made the Pistons and Bulls a great rivalry was the physicality and the hatred between the two teams.

I don’t know if the Lakers and Thunder have that hatred, but the elbow delivered from Metta World Peace to the head of James Harden back in April set the tone for a potentially physical rivalry.

Then there’s the trash talk back in February, when Kobe Bryant said after the Thunder beat the Lakers by 15: "Maybe one day they'll be able to sit at my lunch table," Bryant said. "Right now, we're at two different lunch tables, man."

Well Bryant better add some chairs to that table because he could have some company much sooner than he would probably like.

Jordan’s Bulls teams learned a lesson before eventually getting past the Pistons which was there's a maturation process an NBA team goes through before it can become a champion.

Durant’s Thunder have been learning the same lesson since 2012 and they could be ready to climb the mountain that the Bulls eventually did.

All they have to do is dispatch of the Lakers and the maturation process could be close to complete.