For a Night, Thomas Returns to His Glory Days

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The cheers were pure, the embrace from Bill Laimbeer warm and the adulation overwhelming. Isiah Thomas stood on the Palace floor Tuesday night, and it was as if time and space had been altered merely by passing through the arena doors.

From left, Richard Hamilton, Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas and Chauncey Billups are members of the Pistons’ all-time team.

One week ago, Thomas was stripped of the Knicks’ team presidency. Eight days from now, he will probably lose his job as the team’s coach. His recent past has been inglorious, to say the least, and his N.B.A. future is hazy at best.

But for one night, Thomas was a Detroit Piston again, one of 30 legends honored by the franchise, and perhaps the most beloved of them all. To commemorate their 50-year anniversary, the Pistons named an all-time team. Most of them were here Tuesday before the Knicks defeated the Pistons, 98-94. It was their first win here since March 1992, a 10-game span.

The crowd cheered hard for Dave Bing and screeched for Rasheed Wallace. But no one evoked more warmth, more applause or more volume than Thomas, who led the Pistons to their first two championships, in 1989 and 1990.

The occasion provided a rare break for Thomas from the mayhem, the controversy and the enmity that has colored his tenure in New York. The contrast was striking, although Thomas did his best not to acknowledge it.

Sometime Wednesday, Thomas is expected to meet with Donnie Walsh, who last week replaced him as team president. His fate with the franchise could be decided by that meeting. But as Thomas reflected on his Detroit glory days, he spoke hopefully — still — of bringing the same success to the Knicks.

“It gives me more confidence in the beliefs that I have, in terms of what we’re doing in New York, and what I’m trying to do in New York,” Thomas said, noting that the Pistons went through a dark period before winning their titles. “I know how we were treated here earlier, and what was said about us. And now here we are.

“It definitely has recharged my battery,” Thomas said of the evening’s events, “and makes me want to push even harder and further to accomplish the same things that we did here, to leave something that will stand the test of time in New York. And I’m looking forward to it.”

It seems doubtful that Thomas will have that chance, although only Walsh knows for sure. At Madison Square Garden, where Thomas hears only boos and chants of “Fire Isiah,” fans would surely cringe to hear him talking about a future with the Knicks.

The difference is not hard to grasp. As a Piston, Thomas spearheaded two championships and remains the franchise leader in scoring (18,822 points), field goals and free throws made, steals and assists. In four seasons with the Knicks, Thomas’s teams have posted a combined record of 139-238 — 54-105 since he became coach.

Pistons fans would welcome Thomas back. The former coach Chuck Daly and eight members of the Pistons’ so-called Bad Boys team of the 1980s and early ’90s joined Thomas on the all-time team: Kelly Tripucka, James Edwards, Rick Mahorn, John Salley, Vinnie Johnson, Laimbeer, Mark Aguirre (a Knicks assistant coach) and Joe Dumars (the Pistons’ president).

Thomas was the last to be introduced, and a steady roar grew to a deafening crescendo. Wearing a commemorative black leather jacket over his dress shirt and tie, Thomas smiled broadly and waved, then embraced the Pistons’ owner, Bill Davidson, who was seated in a wheelchair on the court. Thomas leaned down and said several words to Davidson, with whom he once had a falling out.

A few minutes later, Thomas followed Bing and addressed the crowd.

“I’d like to say, ‘This is our house,’ ” Thomas said, holding his right hand in the air. “And I’d like to thank Mr. D for being patient with us and letting us build this house.”

Thomas recalled that when he arrived here as a rookie in 1981, the Pistons had no winning tradition to speak of, surely nothing that could compare to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Thomas said he consulted with Bing, who asked him, “What do you want to do?”

“We said one day when you talk about the Celtics and the Lakers, we want to be mentioned in that conversation,” Thomas said. “And I’m proud to stand here before you today with all my teammates and our Pistons family and you as our fans, because it took a long time before we built our house in ’89 and won our first championship.”

Before tip-off, Thomas received hugs from Wallace and Chauncey Billups, stars with the current Pistons team. He also got strong words of support from Daly, who called Thomas “the toughest guy I know.” If Thomas’s Knicks career is over, Daly expects he will not be down long.

“I’ve always said Isiah, I’ve known him for a long time, out of an airplane, 10,000 feet, no parachute, land on his feet, smiling,” Daly said. “So I’ve still got to believe. I’m a believer in Isiah.”