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        <title><![CDATA[The Michael Jordan-Isiah Thomas feud reignited by ‘The Last Dance’]]></title>
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            <media:title type="html">The Michael Jordan-Isiah Thomas feud reignited by ‘The Last Dance’</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A bad dream is getting worse for Isiah Thomas.</p><p>The Hall of Fame Pistons point guard was snubbed from the Dream Team in 1992 and Sunday&#8217;s new installment of &#8220;The Last Dance&#8221; may have provided another reminder of why Thomas didn&#8217;t get to chase an Olympic gold medal with one of the greatest teams ever.</p><p>The heated and physical rivalry between Jordan&#8217;s Bulls and Thomas&#8217; &#8220;Bad Boys&#8221; Pistons came back into focus in the ESPN&#8217;s documentary on Sunday night. It was capped off by the Pistons leaving the court early and not shaking the Bulls&#8217; hands after getting swept in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, a scene that Jordan made clear he still holds a grudge over.</p><p>&#8220;I tried to do everything correctly and I thought I should have made the Dream Team,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/1254779147441680385">Thomas said Monday on ESPN&#8217;s &#8220;Get Up!&#8221; </a></p><p>&#8220;However, I wasn&#8217;t a part of it. That hurt me. And looking back, if I&#8217;m not a part of the Dream Team because a lapse in emotion in terms of not shaking someone&#8217;s hand, if that&#8217;s the reason why I didn&#8217;t make the Dream Team, then I am more disappointed today than I was back then when I wasn&#8217;t selected.&#8221;</p><p>Jordan didn&#8217;t hold back in his feelings toward Thomas in the episode, especially when the topic of the Pistons walking off the court early came up.</p><figure id="attachment_15563728"  class="wp-caption alignnone aligncenter"><strong><noscript><img data- data-src="/uploads/2020/04/dreamteam.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" /><noscript><img  data-src="/uploads/2020/04/dreamteam.jpg" /></noscript></noscript><img class="lazyload" src='data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E' data- data-src="/uploads/2020/04/dreamteam.jpg" /></strong><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><span>Michel Jordan and Magic Johnson; Isiah Thomas</span><span class="credit">Getty Images</span></figcaption></figure><p>&#8220;I know it&#8217;s all bulls&#8212;,&#8221; Jordan said. &#8220;Whatever he says now, you know it wasn&#8217;t his true actions then. He has time enough to think about it. Or the reaction of the public [has] kind of changed his perspective of it. You can show me anything you want. There&#8217;s no way you can convince me he wasn&#8217;t an a&#8211;hole.&#8221;</p><p>Still, a producer showed Jordan a clip of Thomas explaining the decision.</p><p>&#8220;When you lost, you left the floor,&#8221; Thomas said.</p><p>It evoked a big eye roll from Jordan, who pointed out that he shook everybody&#8217;s hand when the Bulls lost to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1989 and 1990.</p><p>The walk-off may not have been the only reason Thomas was left off the Dream Team. In the 2009 book, &#8220;When the Game Was Ours&#8221; &#8212; written by Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Jackie MacMullan &#8212; Johnson admitted that he, Jordan and other players blackballed Thomas from the team.</p><p>&#8220;Isiah killed his own chances when it came to the Olympics. Nobody on that team wanted to play with him,&#8221; <strong>Johnson said in the book.</strong> &#8220;&#8230; Michael didn&#8217;t want to play with him. Scottie [Pippen] wanted no part of him. Bird wasn&#8217;t pushing for him. Karl Malone didn&#8217;t want him. Who was saying, &#8216;We need this guy?&#8217; Nobody.&#8221;</p><p>Nearly 30 years later, Thomas&#8217; absence on the Dream Team still stings him. While talking on &#8220;Get Up!&#8221; the former Knicks coach and president of basketball operations called it &#8220;the biggest hole in my resume.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Being left off the Dream Team, that personally hurt me,&#8221; Thomas said. &#8220;In 1980, I was on the Olympic team. As a matter of fact, I was voted the male athlete of the year in 1980 for the USA Olympic team. The only thing that&#8217;s missing from my resume is not being on the Dream Team. Now, when the Dream Team was selected and I wasn&#8217;t a part of it, there was a lot of controversy around it. I still don&#8217;t know who did it or why they say I didn&#8217;t make it. I know the criteria for selection of making the team, I had fit all the criteria. And that&#8217;s a big hole in my resume &#8212; that is the biggest hole in my resume.</p><p>&#8220;That is the only place and that&#8217;s the only thing on my resume that I did not succeed at. I graduated from college, I got a master&#8217;s degree in education from University of California at Berkeley. On the educational side, I&#8217;ve succeeded. In the sports arena, I&#8217;ve won at every level.&#8221;</p>]]></content:encoded>
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