“We competed and beat their team but that doesn’t mean we didn’t respect and admire (Jordan) as a player,” Thomas told The Detroit News. “I was in a few (interviews) and I’m looking forward to it also. I tried to be as accurate and truthful with the statements and comments. I hope the full content of what I was trying to express in the admiration we all had for him as a player is shown from my comments. All of us who talked about him talked about how we admired how great a player he was — and we couldn’t stop him other than to double- or triple-team him.”