The soundtrack that accompanies what must be, by far, the most viewed play of Isiah Thomas’ basketball career is this from the iconic voice of the late Johnny Most: “Now there’s a steal by Bird, underneath to DJ, lays it in!”
Shortly after Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals ended with Larry Bird swiping Isiah’s floating inbounds pass to Bill Laimbeer with five seconds left and flipping the ball to Dennis Johnson for the winning layup with a tick left — putting off an inevitable transfer of power for another year and dooming the world to a foregone conclusion of an NBA Finals (can you detect any bitterness?) — Most’s radio call was married with the TV broadcast footage for eternal playback.
And that is how most of the sports world has digested that play, which makes it even worse. All due respect and rest in peace to Most, a play-by-play giant. But if you were a Detroit Pistons fan at the time, that was the voice of the most abrasive homer in…
