Growth-first approach from J.B. Bickerstaff winning games for Pistons

After a 60-win regular season, the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs revealed that the Detroit Pistons still had some growing up to do. Coach J. B.

Bickerstaff trusted his young roster to figure it out. They were on the brink of elimination in Game 6 against the Orlando Magic , down by 24 points early in the third quarter on May 1. And yet fourth-year big Jalen Duren, who who struggled to assert himself on both sides of the ball earlier in the series, played the final eight minutes of the game over Paul Reed, a vet in the midst of a strong performance.

Second-year guard Daniss Jenkins, who couldn’t hit shots through the first five games, played 10 of 24 second-half minutes in a historic comeback to force a Game 7, eventually won by the Pistons to set up their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bickerstaff leaned on them for a simple reason: To learn how to handle high-pressure moments – to, perhaps, become pillars of the franchise – they first had to experience them. MITCH ALBOM: Cade Cunningham puts the icing on Pistons' Game 2 cake The decision has paid dividends since: Duren and Jenkins shook off their poor starts and delivered their best performances of the series in Sunday's Game 7.

And as the Pistons have built a 2-0 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers, they've delivered even more. “When you have young guys who are doing things for the first time, playing in these situations, it’s not going to be perfect,” Bickerstaff said after the Pistons’ 107-97 Game 2 win over the Cavaliers on Thursday, May 7 . “What we judge them on is, if it’s effort-based and if they’re giving us all they got, then we’ll stick with them and give them a chance to play through some of the bumps and bruises, because we trust that they’re going to get through it and they’ll be better for it.