1990 NBA Finals
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The 1990 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1989-90 NBA season. The series pitted the Detroit Pistons (the previous year's champions) against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Pistons became the just the third franchise in NBA history to win back-to-back championships, joining the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Renowned Pistons announcer George Blaha narrated the season-ending documentary "Pure Pistons" for NBA Entertainment.

Background

In the 1989-90 campaign, the Portland Trail Blazers posted a 59-23 record, and defeated the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, and Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference playoffs. Portland won with gritty defense and rebounding, the aerial highlights of Clyde Drexler and Jerome Kersey, and the deadly outside shooting of Terry Porter and Dražen Petrović. The team was ultimately defeated by the defending champion Detroit Pistons, led by Bill Laimbeer, Joe Dumars, and Isiah Thomas (the Finals MVP after averaging 27.6 points per game, 7.0 assists per game, and 5.2 rebounds per game in the series.) 4-1.

For the Pistons, the 1989-90 campaign was almost identical as the year before. Like in the 1988-89 season, the Pistons beat the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals, won their second straight championship, and Dennis Rodman won Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Series summary

The Pistons became the first team in Finals history to win Games 3 through 5 in the 2-3-2 series format which has been used since 1985.

"America the Beautiful" was sung by a then-unknown Mariah Carey, who had not even released a debut album at the time. In response to Carey's performance, CBS Sports anchor Pat O'Brien quipped "The Palace now has a queen!"

The key moment in Game 5 of the Finals was Vinnie Johnson's series-clinching shot in the final seconds. On June 14, 1990, Johnson landed a 14-footer in the last second, beating Portland 92-90 in Game 5 of the Finals, thus giving Detroit the World Championship.

Bill Laimbeer broke the NBA record for most three pointers made in a Finals game with 6 in the Game 2 loss. Michael Jordan would later tie that in the 1992 NBA Finals Later in the 1990s, Kenny Smith would break that record by connecting on 7 three-pointers. Scottie Pippen would tie Smith's record, as would Ray Allen, in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals.

This was the last Finals appearance for Earl Strom, a highly regarded referee, whose career spanned thirty-two years in professional basketball.

Pistons win series 4-1

Television coverage

The NBA on CBS ended a 17 year run, as the league was moving to NBC after the 1990 NBA Finals. In their goodbye montage, CBS used Marvin Gaye's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from the 1983 NBA All-Star Game. Pat O'Brien (anchor), James Brown (sideline reporter), Dick Stockton (play-by-play) and Hubie Brown (color commentary) called the action for CBS.

Team rosters

See also

• 1990 NBA Playoffs

External links

• NBA History

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