"It was almost like a religious thing" - Ex-Bull on Michael Jordan's epic speech after losing to Pistons in 1990 playoffs

The Chicago Bulls were eliminated in the 1990 NBA Playoffs by the Detroit Pistons. After being blown out in Game 7, then-Bulls GM Jerry Krause chastised his players in the locker room, saying they should have won and that it should never happen again.

According to former Bulls forward Stacey King, Michael Jordan stood up and delivered an impassioned speech.

"I'll never forget Michael Jordan standing up in the locker room and giving this emotional speech—basically saying what Jerry said," King stated . "But it hit home because Jordan was our leader. He said, 'This will be the last time this happens. We will never have this feeling again.'

"It was almost like a religious thing. He had a glow to him. It hit home like a freaking lightning bolt," Stacey added.

A valiant stand against Detroit

The Bulls went into the 1990 playoffs probably thinking they were good enough to dethrone the Pistons and stop them from repeating as champs. After all, they had a new coach in Phil Jackson, who steered the squad to its best regular-season record, 55-27, in the Jordan era.

After disposing of the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers with relative ease, the Bulls met Detroit in the third straight playoffs (second in the conference finals).

Neither team dropped a home game through the first six meetings. Jordan tried to buck the trend in Game 7, putting up a near-triple-double of 31 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists. Unfortunately, none of his allies were able to step up against the Pistons' stingy defense, resulting in a 93-74 loss and MJ's promise.

MJ stayed true to his promise

As it turned out, that was really the last series Chicago lost when "His Airness" played in the entire regular season.

First, the team had to overcome the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, which it did effortlessly. The five-time MVP said he knew he had to get stronger to "start dishing out the punishment instead of taking it all the time." Coupled with learning to rely on his teammates, he finally uncovered how to break Detroit's Jordan Rules .

After sweeping the Pistons, Chicago secured its first title by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. The Bulls never lost another playoff series until Mike retired in 1993.

Jordan returned in the middle of the 1994-95 campaign and lost his only playoff round past 1990 against the Orlando Magic in the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals. However, that only kickstarted another three-peat for the Bulls.

Related: "The Jordan Rules worked as long as Michael played a traditional way" - B.J. Armstrong details exactly how MJ broke the Pistons' Jordan Rules