Detroit Pistons revel in moment after clinching playoffs: ‘It’s a big deal’

• The Pistons’ success can be attributed to their strong defense and team chemistry.
• This season marks a significant turnaround for the Pistons, who had a franchise-worst 14 wins last season.
• Key players like Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren have contributed to the team’s success.

TORONTO — All season, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and the Detroit Pistons have taken a game-by-game approach. They have stacked milestone win after milestone win amid one of the best rebuilding seasons in NBA history, and haven’t taken much time to acknowledge it.

The celebrations, for the most part, have been muted. 

“Our guys are focused on night in and night out,” Bickerstaff said on March 28, after his team snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Cleveland Cavaliers to clinch the franchise’s first winning record since 2015-16. It has been a common refrain for him, whenever he’s been asked about the team’s success: “I did not know that was a thing. I don’t know if our guys did or not. Our guys just focus on the task at hand and that’s where we’ve been able to find consistency.”

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Friday was different, though. The Pistons (43-34) pulled off their most significant regular-season win in nearly two decades, clinching a top-six playoff seed for the first time since 2008 with a 117-105 road win over the Toronto Raptors. 

The magnitude of this moment almost defies description. Last season, the Pistons had a franchise-worst 14 wins, suffered an NBA-record 28-game losing streak and seemingly suffered from an incurable sense of low morale and an unclear vision of when, and how, the team would get back-on-track. 

There was no denying it after Friday’s victory, though — it’s an amazing, surreal, accomplishment, and one they took a moment to relish with only five games remaining in the season. 

“It’s a big deal for the group,” Bickerstaff said. “I’ll be honest with you. We typically don’t take time to reflect on where we are, but this is an opportunity for this group to reflect on where it is, where it’s come from and what they’ve been able to accomplish together. To turn it around the way that they have, to put themselves in this position to play in the postseason, it’s a big deal.

“Whatever it is that we’ve asked them to do, they just go out there and try to get it done. Finding the consistency, the belief in one another. It’s a big deal for this group for sure.” 

This is, perhaps, the Pistons team that has embraced the franchise’s blue-collar attitude in recent memory. Their strong chemistry has been evident since early in the season. They’ve become devoted to physical play. Since Jan. 1, they’ve been a top-three defensive team. All the core tenants of every great Pistons team has been present in this group. 

They have a long road ahead to live up to the Bad Boys and Goin’ To Work eras, though.

And they know it, as Jalen Duren said after Friday’s win. 

“It’s just grit,” he said. “We say grit all the time, we say togetherness, we’ve got a lot of key words that built our culture from day one that we say every time we break the huddle. I feel like we just locked in on those and got us to this point. We’re not done yet. We’re going to take a moment to enjoy what we accomplished, but it’s so many milestones and the real goal is obviously to bring a championship back to the city. It’s a milestone. First step.” 

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Malik Beasley called this group’s potential early in the season. After they fell to 0-3 with a loss to the Boston Celtics on Oct. 26, the well-traveled guard, who signed a one-year deal in the offseason, said the team was “right there” as far as figuring out how to consistently win games. 

The season began to turn around in December. After falling to 11-17 in mid-December, the Pistons won three consecutive road games out west (over the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings). They went on to win eight of nine, and 10 of 12, to pull two games above .500 (21-19) with a road win over the New York Knicks.

Beasley and the team’s other veterans — Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Paul Reed — have given this team a higher floor. Cade Cunningham’s leap to superstardom, along with Bickerstaff’s Coach of the Year-caliber work and improvements from the rest of the young core, have enabled this group to surpass all expectations.

“I’ve been on lots of teams on both ends of the spectrum,” Beasley said on Oct. 26. “Championship teams, growing and building teams. My main role is to show the guys every day that if we got the win tonight, it matters but we’ve got a lot of work to do. Rome wasn’t built in one day. I just look to continue to keep building.

“It might seem like we’re 0-3, but I feel like we’re right there. I’m not just saying that because I’m here. I’ve been through struggles in the NBA, and we’re right there. The chemistry is really good, the camaraderie is really good, we still have a lot of energy.”

The Pistons are playoff-bound. The goal posts will now shift toward winning a championship — the ultimate goal of any franchise. It no longer seems like a pipe dream. 

“Coach has done a great job with us,” Beasley said Friday. “For some reason, whatever happened in Cleveland, we’re thankful for that because it gave him an opportunity to help us out. Everything happens for a reason. I could’ve signed back in Milwaukee, Tim did it in Dallas. Everything happens for a reason. 

“It’s given me vibes of like an OKC, Cleveland team. The NBA is turning back to full teams. We’ve got one superstar on our team. That’s the type of basketball that we love and have each other’s back, and that’s what we’re doing.” 

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