{"id":609159,"date":"2026-02-18T04:26:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/609159\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T04:26:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:26:20","slug":"jb-bickerstaff-fires-back-at-critics-calling-pistons-goons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/609159\/","title":{"rendered":"JB Bickerstaff fires back at critics calling Pistons goons"},"content":{"rendered":"

JB Bickerstaff fires back at critics calling Pistons goons<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Pistons<\/a> remain at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 40-13 record, anchored by the stellar play of Cade Cunningham<\/a> and Jalen Duren, with the supporting cast providing consistent contributions.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Pistons exude toughness on both ends of the court<\/a>, with some claiming that they are reminiscent of the team\u2019s \u201cBad Boy\u201d era from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Others, however, are not happy with the Pistons, saying they are too rough and too physical.<\/p>\n

Detroit coach JB Bickerstaff<\/a>, however, begged to differ<\/a>, as he noted in an appearance on Road Trippin\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been talking about, and limiting what our guys\u2019 basketball capabilities are, and calling them just like rough house and goons and those types of things,\u201d said Bickerstaff.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur guys get grabbed, held, and wrestled. You go back and watch us every single night and watch the things that happen, and it\u2019s physical, right? We dish out as much as we take, but we don\u2019t cross the line, okay? That\u2019s what I want everybody to be aware of. Our guys go out and impact winning basketball games through their physicality and through the toughness of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Recently, the NBA suspended Duren for four games and Isaiah Stewart for seven games for fighting with the Charlotte Hornets. It was not the first time that Duren and Stewart were involved in an altercation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bickerstaff, who joined the team in 2024, acknowledged that while they are trying to emulate the \u201cBad Boy\u201d era of the Pistons, they are not trying to deliberately hurt anybody. He stressed that they are simply playing hard for the fans because that is what\u2019s expected of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey love that style of play, that grittiness, that toughness, you know, the ability to not back down from anybody, to play a selfless brand of basketball, and do things that are extremely difficult every night,\u201d added Bickerstaff.<\/p>\n

Detroit will return to action on Thursday versus the New York Knicks.<\/p>\n

Related: Pistons\u2019 J.B. Bickerstaff puts Cade Cunningham in Dwyane Wade territory<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Why Cade Cunningham is like The Matrix\u2019s Neo, per Pistons HC JB Bickerstaff<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JB Bickerstaff fires back at critics calling Pistons goons appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,909,473,296,188,3860,1409,1016,912,6,191,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-609159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cade-cunningham","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-detroit","12":"tag-detroit-pistons","13":"tag-detroitpistons","14":"tag-eastern-conference","15":"tag-isaiah-stewart","16":"tag-jalen-duren","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-new-york-knicks","19":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116089742037900930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}