Pistons' JB Bickerstaff reveals true feelings on close call victory vs. Hornets
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The Detroit Pistons may have prevailed with a 112-102 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, but head coach JB Bickerstaff shared some critical feedback on his team’s performance.
Detroit faced a late-game scare as Charlotte rallied with a 17-2 start to the fourth quarter. After leading by as many as 28 points in the first half, the Pistons almost fumbled it away after the lead was cut to two. Bickerstaff let his displeasure out during the postgame media session when recapping the Pistons’ victory.
"We didn't do the things that we needed to do, and that's an area that we're constantly trying to improve upon. There's a standard that we set for ourselves, and we need to hold ourselves to that standard and tonight we did not,” Bickerstaff stated. “We were outscored in three quarters. The last three quarters of the game they outscored us. Thats not good enough. We were fortunate enough to win, but our expectations are higher than that and our standard is higher than that. We did not play to that standard."
The Pistons were facing a Hornets team that played without injured starters like LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and many others. Detroit had starting point guard Cade Cunningham back in the starting lineup after sitting out Friday due to an ankle injury. This was also the Pistons’ debut of NBA trade deadline acquisition Dennis Schroder, which added to the team’s depth. Even with the fast start and depth, Detroit struggled to slow down the surging Hornets after jumping out to the big lead.
Some of the players took responsibility and echoed the same sentiments as their coach. Center Jalen Duren admitted the Pistons should have played better and closed the game out accordingly.
"Got to pick it up. Got a lead early, and we started 'b.s.'-ing a little bit, kind of just going through the motions as a team. And honestly, he just made it clear that…they had a team that was depleted,” Duren explained. “They didn't have their guys, so we couldn't play down to the competition. We're playing for, obviously, things much bigger than that. So, it was kind of a variation of that with some other words. But we picked it up and we were able to get it together."
Another triple-double in Cade Cunningham’s return
The Pistons got a much needed lift with the return of their starting point guard Cade Cunningham. Detroit’s 2025 All-Star picked up where he left off by recording his eighth triple-double of the regular season against the Hornets. The 6-foot-7 floor general made his impact felt all over the floor scoring 19 points, dishing out 12 assists, and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Cunningham is now tied for third with Sacramento Kings center for the most triple doubles on the season. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (24) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (10) remain in front of Cunningham.
Four other players finished with double-digit points to help anchor the Pistons’ win. Forward Tobias Harris led the team in scoring with 20 points. Sixth man Malik Beasley kept up his hot shooting with 17 points off the bench. Frontcourt starters Ausar Thompson and Duren finished with 16 points each. Duren also pulled down 12 rebounds and dished six assists in 31 minutes for the Pistons.
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