{"id":699863,"date":"2026-04-05T16:41:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699863\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:41:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:41:44","slug":"what-j-b-bickerstaff-thought-was-key-to-sealing-no-1-seed-without-cunningham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699863\/","title":{"rendered":"What J.B. Bickerstaff Thought Was Key to Sealing No. 1 Seed Without Cunningham"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Pistons will be the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since the 2006-07 season, and they did it without their leading scorer, Cade Cunningham<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The 116-93 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> saw seven players register double figures. It sealed Detroit\u2019s 12th win in its last 15 games, securing the top spot in the East and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff expressed his joy in his team\u2019s offensive philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted diversity in our offense,\u2019 Bickerstaff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want everybody to feel like they’re a part of it, everybody to get a touch. You know, the more we move the ball, just factually, and the analytics tell us that we’re a much better basketball team when we move the basketball. So, you move the basketball, and everybody’s going to get a chance to eat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s how we approach the game. And what our guys have done a great job with throughout this season is staying present and staying in the moment. All we think about is, \u2018What are we going to do today that’s going to make us a better basketball team?\u2019 We don’t think about 10 games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detroit clinches No.1 seed, but Bickerstaff knows the journey hasn\u2019t stopped <\/p>\n

There was happiness at the final buzzer when the Pistons\u2019 position was finally confirmed<\/a>, but Bickerstaff was reflective and later on, the players bought into the system that the job, the mission at hand, isn\u2019t finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, take a moment, reflect on where we’ve been, reflect on the work that we’ve put in to get here, but understanding that this isn’t the finish,\u201d Bickerstaff said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, to grow the way this group has grown together as quickly as it has, it is special.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we got more food to eat. So, we’ll take tonight, enjoy this. But tomorrow, we’ll get back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Detroit have been in electric form since Cunningham\u2019s absence due to a collapsed left lung. By going 3\u20131 against a group of opponents that featured three playoff-bound teams and a fourth performing at a playoff level, the Pistons have now got their No.1 seed, and at the same time, also silenced the critics who expected them to falter after Cunningham\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think about exactly where we are in that moment, and that allows us to stay consistently, emotionally, and go out and play the game the right way,\u201d Bickerstaff commented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Pistons will be the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,6,678,207,3817],"class_list":{"0":"post-699863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","13":"tag-philadelphia76ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116353100440091570","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699863","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=699863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}