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The Detroit Pistons are headed to the second round, and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff made it clear that belief inside the locker room never wavered.
“I mean, it’s expected,” Bickerstaff said after Detroit’s 116-94 Game 7 win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday. “That’s the amount of belief that we have in this group. This is a special group and you can’t count us out. No matter the circumstances, no matter the situation.”
Detroit became just the 15th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit, closing the series at Little Caesars Arena behind Cade Cunningham’s 32 points and 12 assists and Tobias Harris’ 30-point performance.
“I like our chances to fight our way back,” Bickerstaff added. “I thought we did a hell of a job of that obviously this series.”
The Pistons trailed by 24 points in Game 6 before rallying, then controlled Game 7 with a 51% shooting performance and held Orlando to 94 points, continuing a defensive trend that limited the Magic to just 113 points over the final six quarters.
Bickerstaff credited Harris as a stabilizing force throughout the series.
“Nobody can say to me about Tobias Harris,” he said. “He is dependable, reliable, prepared for the moment. He’s a leader, he’s a great teammate, he’s a great human being. He’s a high level competitor.”
“To show up tonight and do what he did when it was on the line the most, I mean, it’s just exceptional.”
Detroit also received a major lift from Jalen Duren, who posted 15 points and 15 rebounds in Game 7 after struggling earlier in the series.
“He impacts the game in so many ways,” Bickerstaff said. “People want to focus on stats and numbers and points with J.D., but that’s not where he helps us.”
“Our defense isn’t where it is without the anchors that we have here. Every single night, he went out and anchored our defense.”
Defense defined the series, particularly against Paolo Banchero, who scored 38 points in Game 7 but lacked consistent support.
“We’ve got individual talents who are willing to take on challenges,” Bickerstaff said. “We have guys who play with such toughness and grit and a level of competition that they don’t want to fold at any moment.”
Despite falling behind 3-1, the Pistons coach maintained confidence in the outcome.
“I mean, be honest with you, I never doubted we were going to win this series, and that’s the truth of the matter,” he said.
Bickerstaff emphasized that the adversity could benefit Detroit moving forward.
“I think it was great for us,” he said. “You have to be battle tested, you have to be able to respond and you have to have the experience of having to do that.”
“To do what we did this series only made us better for the next one.”
Detroit now advances to the Eastern Conference semifinals, where adjustments on offense became a key late-series factor.
“It wasn’t the defensive piece for us,” Bickerstaff said. “It was a matter of us figuring out how to score more and be more efficient on the offensive end of the floor.”
“I feel like as the series went on, we saw what they were doing, how they were guarding us, and we were able to sync.”
With momentum and confidence aligned, Detroit enters the next round with a tested identity built on defense, execution, and belief.
