NBA
What’s behind Detroit Pistons’ remarkable transformation?
The Pistons have gone from being the league’s laughing stock to a serious 2024/25 playoff contender.
Detroit sport is in a ‘good place’ at the moment, the Lions are flying in NFC North topping the division and are (9-1) for the season so far. Detroit FC made the playoffs in the USL Championship in soccer and the Detroit Pistons, often the butt of many Michigan sporting jokes are flying high in the Eastern Conference in the opening stage of the 2024/25 NBA season.
Indeed, a win for Detroit as they face the Chicago Bulls on Monday night would see the team already pass the 50% mark of their overall win tally for the 2023/24 season where they ended up rock bottom in the standings recording one of the worst ever NBA season showings with just 14 wins and 68 defeats.
New coach bounce
After Monty Williams departed the coaching staff, J.B. Bickerstaff has been drafted in and the team’s upturn in fortune under the Colorado native’s guidance has been startling as the Pistons have won six of their last nine games, and even in defeat, the Michigan outfit have shown a determination and competitive level so often absent in recent seasons.
Bickerstaff’s team fell in the last-second at Charlotte, lost by two points to Houston, and lost an overtime decision at Milwaukee.
Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey have been instrumental in this revival with Cunningham posted his seventh double-double of the season with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the recent win over Washington.
“The ball is in his hands the majority of the night, but he understands the total game,” Bickerstaff stated. “He understands what his teammates need, the team needs in the moment. I think you’re seeing him express all those things. So, he’s growing from a leadership standpoint. He held us accountable for doing the things we needed to do tonight.”
Ivey has also been productive in an offensive capacity having bagged 20-plus points six times this season.
“He can hurt you in so many different ways,” Bickerstaff said. “He can get to the basket at will. He’s doing a great job of finding his teammates when people want to commit two bodies to him. And then he picks up full-court most possessions. So he’s setting that head-of-the-snake mentality for our defense as well.”
Monday’s opponents, the Bulls are (5-9) and after giving up 144 points to Cleveland on Friday, they surrendered 143 in a 36-point loss to Houston on Sunday.
Monday will mark the first of four meetings between the Eastern Conference Central Division rivals with the teams set to play each other three times during an 11-day stretch in February.
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