NBA Mismatch: Detroit Pistons wish you a Happy New Year 1989

The wheel of history turns in a circle, causing it to repeat itself. Sometimes it takes much more time than expected, but the past is there, just around the corner, waiting to take the invisibility cloak off its back and reveal itself.

Occasionally, long-forgotten things return to haunt us and remind us that erasing them from our memory doesn't necessarily mean they never existed. They were always there, waiting...

But what happens when you don't want it to return? Or at least not in the same form as before. Then, you're in fear, just like the NBA league is at the moment. Reason? The resurrected Detroit Pistons.

Take that ball home, my son, if you love it so much - Pistons' star misses 31 shots in a single game!

The franchise has mainly been among the worst in the league during the past 15 years. Perhaps it was a punishment for that brief flash in 2004, when the Motor City crew won its third NBA title, when everyone thought it had long been consigned to the trash heap of history.

However, the wheel turned in a circle, crushing and tormenting the sorry Pistons and now, their time seems to have come again. And why does the league fear them? Because of their past, embodied in one generation, whose core was perfectly encapsulated in its nickname - "Bad Boys".

The crew that didn't shy away from playing hard, even rough, and to which cheap shots were go-to moves. The crew that beat up Michael Jordan - even the GOAT, yes - and (some would say) made him become the icon he is today.

Michael Jordan in action surrounded by the Pistons, back in 1988 (©Allsport /Allsport/Getty Images)

But that was only one side of the coin - which significantly impacted the other one, though - and the other one says that that Pistons' generation dominated the league and won the franchise's first-ever titles in back-to-back seasons 1988/1989 and 1989/1990.

But regardless of their results, nobody liked them. And no matter how hard they didn't care, that animosity and antipathy towards the team from Michigan remained almost a part of the NBA culture - rarely expressed though, as no one minded the slumping Pistons, which struggled throughout the last decade and a half.

And now, they're back. And they're still playing intense and relentless basketball. Truth be told, they're not the actual "Bad Boys" - no one ever will be - and they are slightly less combative and eager to fight and somewhat more talented and basketball-oriented. But they are still wearing those same colours and that same inscription on their chest - Pistons.

These new Detroit guys are currently at the top of the Eastern Conference with 13 wins and only two losses. Last night, they beat the Atlanta Hawks 120-112, recording their 11th straight victory for the first time since 1990.

And not just by that stat, they're pretty similar to the "Bad Boys". Cade Cunningham is this generation's Isiah Thomas, Jalen Duren is its Dennis Rodman, Isaiah Stewart and Ausar Thompson resemble Bill Laimbeer and Adrian Dantley, and Jaden Ivey proudly presents Joe Dumars' spirit.

The wheel of history has been tormenting them for years, and now they're back to claim what's theirs. Because, even after a long period of struggling, the Pistons were, are, and will always be a franchise built on a champions' legacy.

It's too early, yes, and this team still has to prove itself against the best in the league, but what if they actually make it?

Detroit believes in them, and although the whole world will welcome 2026, the Motor City may rewind the past and celebrate the New Year 1989, all thanks to their Pistons.