Title: ESPN’s 30 for 30: Bad Boys

When: 8:00 P.M. EST

Length: 120 minutes

Director: Zak Levitt

Thursday night is the premiere of the latest installment of ESPN’s award-winning 30 for 30 film series. This edition focuses on the 1980’s Bad Boy Detroit Pistons and how they changed the way teams play basketball going forward.

The Bad Boys remain to this day one of the most infamous teams due to their physical play that ended up being a preview of the change the NBA was in store for. The documentary focuses on not only the team, but the 80’s and the rise of the NBA as a major sports league in America. Today the team is known as one of the best and were ahead of their time as a team that would do anything to win. ESPN’s summary of the film and its promotional slogan:

For some, the team was heroic — made up of gritty, hard-nosed players who didn’t back down from anyone. And for others, it was exactly that trait — the willingness to do seemingly anything to win — that made them the “Bad Boys,” the team fans loved to hate.

The Bad Boys left their mark on the league in many different ways, but the true stat they excelled in was the technical foul. During the Bad Boy era the technical foul became more and more frequent, and those Pistons lead the way by averaging almost one technical foul a game throughout their reign.

Head over to Five Thirty Eight to read more about the Bad Boys and their influence on the technical foul and watch Bad Boys on ESPN Thursday.

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