Pistons’ physical identity makes them a great team, but does it also hurt their title chances?

Before the Detroit Pistons took on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff talked about the team’s dedication to playing “Pistons basketball.” Then, seated in the same folding chair only a few hours later, after the Pistons fell to the Knicks 111-97, Bickerstaff wondered if the NBA was unfairly penalizing the Pistons for being who they are.

“It is extremely frustrating. To see it happen the way that it happens. There is a discrepancy,” Bickerstaff said, about the way his team is officiated. “There’s a physicality that we play with and play with every night, and the League should be accustomed to it by now. We’ve been doing it for three years, and it’s not going to change.”

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That physicality is part of what Bickerstaff referred to pre-game as “Pistons basketball.” Since being hired by the team in the summer of 2024, Bickerstaff and his staff have created an identity that is not only tied to physicality but also defensive pressure, contested shots at the rim, and turnovers. Before Bickerstaff took over the Pistons, they had a defensive rating of 118 in 2023-24. That was 25th in the league. In his first season at the helm, the Pistons had a rating of 112.5, which was good for 10th-best, and last season, they had a defensive rating of 108.9, second-best. Last season, they also averaged 10.4 steals and 6.4 blocks per game, both of which were best in the league. The season before Bickerstaff arrived, the Pistons were dead last in the NBA with 6.5 steals per game and were 20th in the league with 4.7 blocks per game.

While some of that improvement can be tied to personnel, many of the key players on the Pistons were in Detroit before Bickerstaff arrived. Cade Cunningham played three seasons in Detroit before Bickerstaff was hired, but he had never made an All-Star Game and had only averaged a steal per game in one of those seasons. Jalen Duren played two seasons in Detroit prior to Bickerstaff being hired, and Ausar Thompson played one. Their evolution as players can be attributed to increased experience and maturity, but it would be foolish not to…

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Publish date : 2026-10-28 17:44:00

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