1989 NBA Finals; Game 1 vs. Los Angeles Lakers
The Pistons, behind Isiah Thomas' 16 1st half points, led by as many as 11 points in the opening half. L.A., already playing without the injured Byron Scott, was hurt further when Michael Cooper, A.C. Green, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Orlando Woolridge were all forced to the bench with foul trouble. The Pistons then went on a 11-3 run in the first 4 minutes of the 2nd half to take a 66-51 lead. They continued to pull away as they led by as many as 18 (97-79 with 6:00 left in the 4th) and L.A. was never able to get closer than 12 points in the 4th quarter. Detroit shot a sizzling 82% from the field in the final quarter.
| L.A. | MN | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | OR | DR | RB | AS | PF | ST | TO | BL | PTS |
| Worthy | 39 | 6-18 | 5-8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
| Green | 25 | 3-8 | 2-2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| A-Jabbar | 14 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Cooper | 25 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Johnson | 41 | 6-12 | 5-6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 17 |
| Thompson | 37 | 5-8 | 5-11 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| Campbell | 25 | 4-9 | 4-6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| Woolridge | 24 | 3-5 | 3-3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Lamp | 4 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Rivers | 3 | 1-1 | 2-2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| McNamara | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | 11 | |||||||||||
| TOTAL | 35-75 | 26-38 | 8 | 24 | 43 | 21 | 28 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 97 | |
| 3-PT: Cooper 1-4, Johnson 0-2 | ||||||||||||
| DETROIT | MN | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | OR | DR | RB | AS | PF | ST | TO | BL | PTS |
| Aguirre | 27 | 4-11 | 4-6 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| Mahorn | 21 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Laimbeer | 21 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Dumars | 39 | 1-16 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 |
| Thomas | 32 | 9-16 | 5-6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 |
| Rodman | 27 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Edwards | 25 | 5-9 | 5-5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| Salley | 21 | 2-5 | 1-2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Johnson | 21 | 9-14 | 1-1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Williams | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Long | 2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Dembo | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | 6 | |||||||||||
| TOTALS | 46-83 | 16-21 | 9 | 36 | 51 | 26 | 28 | 2 | 13 | 5 | 109 | |
| 3-PT: Thomas 1-1, Aguirre 0-1 | ||||||||||||
| SCORING | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | F | |||||||
| Los Angeles | 22 | 26 | 18 | 31 | 97 | |||||||
| Detroit | 28 | 27 | 24 | 30 | 109 | |||||||
| A - 21,454 | ||||||||||||