Winning two consecutive NBA titles was one thing. But the Detroit Pistons couldn't fool Mother Nature forever.
In retrospect, the Pistons might have been more than a little lucky to win those championships. They caught the Los Angeles Lakers when Magic Johnson was hurt in 1989. Then they got that miracle shot by Vinnie Johnson to close out Portland in 1990.Then the Pistons gambled they could squeeze one more season out of the same aging cast. They lost the gamble when the younger and quicker Chicago Bulls swept them 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals.
So where do the Pistons go from here?
Nine of the 12 Pistons have reached their 30th birthday. James Edwards is 36. Johnson and Bill Laimbeer are 34. Isiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman are 30. Against the Bulls, the age showed.
"They beat us badly," coach Chuck Daly said. "I think they're a better team than we are right now. We have a lot of great individuals."
Daly predicted there would be changes, but he declined to speculate what moves general manager Jack McCloskey might make.
"We'll have to wait and see," Daly said. "We'll address it. We want to improve, we always have. That's Jack's job."
A trade or two is a good possibility. The name heard most is that of 31-year-old Mark Aguirre. He still has that shooting touch. He might be worth something.
"I'd like to win another championship," Aguirre said. "I'd like for it to be here. But, you never know."
The draft is another possibility. It's a slow process. But even teams that pick as far down as the Pistons can help themselves in the draft. The Boston Celtics proved that, finding Dee Brown with the 19th pick.
Age wasn't the only problem. But it contributed to the others. The biggest problem was injuries, several of them, and none more costly that the wrist injury that kept Thomas out of 32 games.
"We didn't have time to get better," Thomas said. "The mind's willing. The body just didn't have it. You hate to see a run come to an end, but it came to an end for us. That's sports. That's baseball, football, boxing, and it's basketball."
Because of the injuries, Detroit was 50-32 during the regular season and failed to win the Central Division for the first time since 1987. The Pistons were only third best in the Eastern Conference and eighth best in the league.
"Injuries took some of the resolve away from the Pistons," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. "So they didn't have the defensive intensity they've had in the past. Joe Dumars is not the player he was last year."
But it was an exciting run while it lasted. The Pistons were never overly talented. But under Daly, they played together better than anyone had a right to imagine. They were truly a team.
This was the fifth consecutive season the Pistons advanced to the conference finals. They went to the NBA Finals three times, losing to the Lakers in 1988 before winning the next two.
"It would have been a tragic story for this basketball team, as good as it is, to never win a championship," Thomas said. "It's been five tough years for us, putting our bodies through torture, to get to this point."
"We had a great run," Daly said. "We had a lot of pride. We did so much for basketball, for the city of Detroit, for the Rust Belt. But it's a heavy burden to carry around for two years."
Dumars is only 27 years old. He certainly will be the heart of the Pistons' future.
"It's not a matter of the run being over," Dumars said. "It's a matter of having to regroup. It goes in circles. We have some older guys. But that doesn't mean we can't get back to the top."