J.B. Bickerstaff talks Pistons’ 13-game win streak, if this team was a movie & more | NBA Today

J.B. Bickerstaff talks Pistons’ 13-game win streak, if this team was a movie & more | NBA Today

All right, do it with me here now to some Detroit basketball. The nasty boys. That’s the nasty boys, right? Aren’t they nasty boys? Firing on all cylinders here. Well, uh, this is nasty. Their ability to create once again put third quarter here. The Pistons up. Whoa. Manchild. That’s the guy you were talking about, right? Other than Yes. Other than Luca, best big guard in the NBA right there. Fourth quarter here. SGA could be another one. He’s not that big big. You know what I mean? Like this is like says you gets that one to go. You’re right. That’s true. And then in the fourth quarter here, good pass. Nice little drop off inside. Streaking. And then it’s a two-point game. The final seconds here. This is why he’s so dangerous cuz he go outside. He go inside. Great defense. What are you going to do about it? Send the hell. Big guard. I can’t help you on that. The Pistons extend their winning streak to 13 games. that ties the team’s longest streak in franchise history. And what a difference two years make because on November 24th, 2023, the Pistons lost at the Pacers for their 13th straight loss. And now Detroit would go on to lose an NBA record tying 28 straight games. And then exactly two years later, the Pistons win at the Pacers again, their 13th straight, tying, the longest winning streak in franchise history. Means a lot. Um, means a lot, man. Came a long way. Been working. Uh, you know, it’s a cool mark for sure. So, we’ll keep on stacking. Um, don’t like how this one came, but you know, it adds more fuel to the fire. Now, joining NBA today is the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, JB Bicker Staff. JB, congratulations and thank you so much for stopping by. Thank you. Appreciate it. Happy to be here with you guys. You you’re in the midst of a heck of a run, my friend. You You weren’t at the helm when your guys lost those 13 straight two years ago, but they’ve told me about how much that’s fueled them. we hear them still talk about it. How much do you guys discuss it as maybe a motivating factor? Uh you know what, we we don’t talk about it anymore. Uh you know, as a group, one of the first things that we did when we got here was we said for all of us, myself included, you know, no matter where we came from before, no what no matter what happened to us before, it wasn’t going to impact us moving forward. Uh but what I think it did do is it galvanized the group. when you go through something like that, you know, you find a bond and a togetherness. And I think, you know, we’re being able to reap the benefits of that because you see how connected you are, they are. You see how tight they are. Uh, and you see they don’t want to disappoint each other. And they don’t let anybody mess with each other either. No pressure, coach, but the last time this franchise was on a run like this, it was in 2004, and you know where I’m going with this. That team won a title. How do you instill that kind of belief that that that’s possible to do it again? I mean, it’s in them. Uh, you know, just the makeup of this team and the character. Um, you know, there’s no fear. Uh, every night we step on the floor, the guys feel like they can compete hard enough, uh, to make it tough in the fourth quarter. And we feel like in the fourth quarter with the pieces we have and our ability to defend, uh, you know, we can compete and give ourselves a chance and beat anybody. So, uh, we just need to make sure that we pay attention and stay in the moment. Uh, we’re not looking too far down the road. Um, you know, we’re trying to hold oursel to a standard and we play Detroit Pistons basketball every night and if we do that, like I said, it’s going to be a dog fight. Uh, and we believe we’ll have a chance at the end. And it’s a dog fight that we certainly enjoy watching. I I want to ask you about Cade Cunningham because he came up big for you late again last night, but how has he evolved on the court and off of it as a leader this season? Uh, I mean, I guess, you know, he he’s really playing the game in total. um you know, he understands how to get his teammates involved early and give them confidence. Uh and then what he’s doing in the fourth quarter, I mean, is just amazing. Uh his ability to make plays, whether it’s blocking shots, you know, scoring points, uh finding the assist in the fourth quarter, uh you know, has just been amazing, you know, to say the least. But, uh, I I’ll continue to say this about Kade, and, uh, this is the highest level of compliment that I can give him, is, you know, as a person and a player, uh, he has the ability to grow and be great, uh, without taking food off of anybody else’s plate. And, you know, a lot of guys in order for them to be the guy, they take away from their teammates. And this guy just continues to grow and continues to make his teammates better and loves it. He enjoys watching his teammates thrive uh and be a better basketball player and a you know a better basketball team. That is a heck of a compliment and also fitting for the week seeking with the food theme and Thanksgiving. Uh when you talk about sharing and making sure that everybody eats with this with this Detroit system here. You’ve had guys in and out of the lineup. We chatted about this a little bit before you came on air. What’s your philosophy now that you’re whole, that you’re healthy about making sure everybody has their minutes and their touches? How are you managing that? What does the rotation look like? Uh, well, we’ve been playing 12 guys. Uh, the first game, you know, we had everybody back. We actually played 13 guys in the first half. Uh, and I just feel like it’s the right thing to do. Uh, our guys have proven that they can help us win. Um, you know, even no matter we’re short-handed or not, um, you know, they play to our identity. They play together. They’re scrappy. You know, they want to fight. Uh, you know, they want to make it ugly and messy. And that’s the identity of our team and we believe we have that from top to bottom. So, uh, you know, it looks a little bit different. We play shorter minutes so guys can play harder, but they also know that when they get subbed out, there’s somebody right behind them who can come in and do the same thing and impact the game uh at a high level. So, uh, you know, we’re hopeful that over an 82 game season that our depth will give us advantage uh on tough stretches, three and four, back to back, those types of things, like we have guys that we can throw out there uh, and lessen the burden on everyone. And that toughness identity, it really is up and down the roster. And I I know coach, you’re here to talk about your team, but earlier this season, you and your dad, you became the first father-son duo to each win 300 games as a head coach in NBA history. I imagine that is incredibly special. What’s it like growing up as the son of an NBA head coach and and and reaching this milestone? Uh, I mean, it’s awesome. The experiences that I was able to have, you know, as a kid growing up, uh, were second to none. The places we were able to go, the people I was able to meet, um, you know, it was just unbelievable. Like you look at NBA players like they were your family while other people looked up to them as superstars. Like you know I looked at guys like Dale Ellis and Xavier McDaniel and you know Sean Kemp and these guys as like as like brother figures to me and part of our family. So um you know it was a great experience for us. Uh it also helped me learn the game of basketball in a different way. Uh but to be able to follow in my dad’s footsteps who I admire more than uh you know anyone um it just means a lot to me. Um, you know, he’s the guy who I model myself after, the way that I coach, the way that I interact with guys, uh, the relationships that I try to build. It’s all because, you know, I was able to watch him close and see how he treated people. Um, and that’s why, you know, I do the things that I do. Um, you know, and again, to be the first of anything, uh, is huge, you know, and like I said, because it’s him and the doors that he opened for so many people, uh, it makes it even that much more special. That’s a heck of a role model to have. Congratulations on that accomplishment, coach. Before we let you go here, JB, I I’ve read you did an interview a couple years ago. You said you’re a big movie big movie person like my friend Chana over here. Um, so if there’s a a movie that this Detroit Pistons team reminds you of. So easy. What movie are we? You got a movie in mind, Chana? Bad Boys. But they say the Bad Boy What do we got, coach? Yeah. Well, it’s funny. We were actually talking about that that we are now Bad Boys 5. If they made a movie, that’s who we would be. So, it’s funny that you bring that up. Uh, and if they want to make the movie, they can come make it and I guarantee people will come and check us out. I love it. I love it. JB, thank you so very much and best of luck on the quest for number 14. I know you guys are far from finished. Thank you so much for spending the time. Hey, [Music]

Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff joins me on NBA Today to react to Detroit’s franchise record 13-game win streak, Cade Cunningham’s performance this season and compares this year’s team to a movie.