By now, we all know the story about how former Detroit Pistons great Isiah Thomas was snubbed from the 1992 Dream Team in favor of John Stockton.
Well, on December 14, 1991, during their first head-to-head matchup following the snubbing, Thomas exploded for a whopping 44 points against Stockton and the Utah Jazz.
“It just sort of happened,” Thomas said after the game.
The next time the Pistons and Jazz met, Stockton’s teammate Karl Malone was not about to let Thomas embarrass his buddy again and he elbowed Thomas in the head, causing a nasty gash.
Thomas was immediately taken to the hospital where he received 47 stitches.
But Thomas was not about to let Malone get the best of him and he ended up coming back to the arena and checking back into the game. Though the Pistons came up just short of winning the game, Thomas showed that he was not about to back down from a bully.
“It felt like I’d been shot in the head,” Thomas said. “It was a hard hit. . . . I was a little scared.”
