The Jordan Rules were a defensive strategy employed by the Detroit Pistons against Michael Jordan in order to limit his effectiveness on offense. Devised by head coach Chuck Daly in 1988, the Pistons' strategy was "to play him tough, to physically challenge him and to vary its defenses so as to try to throw him off balance. Sometimes the Pistons would overplay Jordan to keep the ball from him. Sometimes they would play him straight up, more often they would run a double-team at him as soon as he touched the ball to try to force him to give it up. And whenever he went to the basket, they made sure his path was contested".[citation needed] This strategy has also sometimes been employed against other prolific scoring guards.[1] The Jordan Rules were an instrumental aspect of the rivalry between the "Bad Boys" Pistons and Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[citation needed]
The Jordan Rules were most effective for the Pistons during their first three playoff meetings with the Bulls.[citation needed] Detroit beat Chicago four games to one in the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Pistons and Bulls met each other in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals for the next three seasons. Detroit's defense defeated the Chicago Bulls in six games in 1989 and in seven games in 1990. The Pistons won back-to-back championships after eliminating the Bulls. However, in 1991, an improved Bulls team defeated the Pistons in the playoffs. Chicago neutralized the Jordan Rules by utilizing their triangle offense[citation needed] and establishing a sharper focus on teamwork.[citation needed] They swept the Pistons four games to none in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. Soon after, the Bulls captured their first-ever NBA title, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
