SENATOR TED CRUZ COMPARES TRUMP WITH PISTONS

Tuesday’s presidential debate certainly was something, eh?

After the first of three scheduled square offs between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, political pundits were searching for the right words to describe what they saw and heard.

[ Was there a winner between Biden and Trump in ‘bar fight’ of a debate? ]

The one comparison that stuck out the most to us was by Sen. Ted Cruz for Fox News’ “postgame show.”

“I thought it was a raucous debate,” Cruz said. “It kind of reminded me of Detroit Pistons basketball in the 90s, where there were a lot of hard fouls and a lot of missed shots. But at the end of the day, I doubt the debate changed the election in any fundamental way.”

And, since ’tis the season for fact-checking, a few “well actuallys,” if you would allow us.

The “Bad Boys” culminated with the 1988-89 team that won the franchise’s first NBA title. On the day of the team’s parade and celebration at the Palace, Rick Mahorn was selected in the expansion draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Upon the visit to the White House, Isiah Thomas declared the “Bad Boys” run to be over, though the team’s perception of hard-nosed defense/dirty play (depending on what side you rooted for — hmm, sound familiar?) didn’t go away.

Shawn Windsor:Don’t let ‘The Last Dance’ make you forget how beautiful the ‘Bad Boys’ could be

The Pistons did go back-to-back by winning the 1990 title. That season, they were 10th in the league in personal fouls per game (23.9), two fouls behind Miami, tops in the NBA that year.

And about this “not a lot of baskets” business: the Pistons were first in the NBA in allowing just 98.3 points per game, and they were 19th in the 27-team league by scoring 104.3.

So, Cruz maybe had a point there.

Contact Kirkland Crawford: kcrawford@freepress.com.

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