1989 NBA Finals; Game 2 vs. Los Angeles Lakers
L.A. was struck with a deathblow in this game. Having already lost Byron Scott before the series started, they then lost Magic Johnson with 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter when he injured his hamstring. Joe Dumars had been on fire with 24 points in the 1st half but L.A. still led by 6 at halftime. Michael Cooper forged that lead on two late 2nd quarter trifectas. In fact, the Lakers had led by 10 points on 2 occasions in the 1st quarter. The score was knotted at 75 when Magic left, but L.A. put on a 15-6 run to take a 9-point lead behind Michael Cooper and Tony Campbell. Detroit finally regrouped and outscored L.A. 21-5 to take a 102-95 lead as L.A. did not hit a shot until the 3:38 mark of the 4th period. L.A., though short-handed, would not give up and closed to within 106-104 late. Detroit was whistled for a 24-second violation with 8 seconds remaining. James Worthy was fouled with 2 seconds left but made only 1 of 2 shots to make it 106-105. Isiah Thomas hit 2 free throws to clinch it.
| L.A. | MN | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | OR | DR | RB | AS | PF | ST | TO | BL | PTS |
| Worthy | 43 | 7-19 | 5-8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 19 |
| Green | 34 | 3-6 | 4-4 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| A-Jabbar | 28 | 4-12 | 3-4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| Cooper | 44 | 6-12 | 3-3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| Johnson | 29 | 6-12 | 5-5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Campbell | 21 | 6-8 | 2-2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| Woolridge | 20 | 1-2 | 5-6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| Thompson | 20 | 2-6 | 2-2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Lamp | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | 14 | |||||||||||
| TOTAL | 35-77 | 29-34 | 15 | 21 | 50 | 21 | 22 | 4 | 13 | 3 | 105 | |
| 3-PT: Cooper 4-8, Johnson 1-3, Campell 1-2, Green 0-2 | ||||||||||||
| DETROIT | MN | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | OR | DR | RB | AS | PF | ST | TO | BL | PTS |
| Aguirre | 33 | 7-11 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 14 |
| Mahorn | 21 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Laimbeer | 14 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Dumars | 36 | 10-16 | 13-14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| Thomas | 34 | 9-21 | 3-4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 21 |
| Edwards | 32 | 3-8 | 2-2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Johnson | 27 | 8-14 | 1-1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
| Rodman | 26 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Salley | 17 | 4-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Team | 3 | |||||||||||
| TOTALS | 44-81 | 19-21 | 13 | 22 | 38 | 21 | 31 | 3 | 10 | 9 | 108 | |
| 3-PT: Johnson 1-3, Aguirre 0-2, Thomas 0-2, Dumars 0-1 | ||||||||||||
| SCORING | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | F | |||||||
| Los Angeles | 32 | 30 | 30 | 13 | 105 | |||||||
| Detroit | 26 | 30 | 28 | 24 | 108 | |||||||
| A - 21,454 | ||||||||||||