1989 Detroit Pistons Basketball World Championship Ring

The 1989 Finals was the championship round of the 1988-89 season. The series was a rematch of the previous year's championship round between the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Lakers.

During the season, the Lakers had won their division, with Magic Johnson collecting his second MVP award. The team swept the first three playoff series (Pacific Division foes: Portland, Seattle, and Phoenix), resulting in a rematch with the Detroit Pistons in the Finals. However, starting off guard Byron Scott suffered a hamstring injury in practice before Game 1 and was ruled out of the series. Then with the Lakers leading early in game 2, Magic Johnson pulled his hamstring and would also be out of the series. The Lakers had won two straight championships in 1987 and 1988 but without their starting back court, their chances were doomed for a "3-peat."

The Pistons had dominated the Eastern Conference, winning 63 games during the regular season. After sweeping the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, the Pistons beat the Chicago Bulls in six games, earning a second straight trip to the Finals. In the season before, the Lakers had beaten them in a tough, seven-game series.

The Pistons won the series in a four-game sweep, marking the first time a team (Lakers) had swept the first three rounds of the playoffs, only to be swept in the finals. As of 2013, the Pistons are the most recent Eastern Conference team to sweep an finals.