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J.B. Bickerstaff Credits Soccer and Sunshine for Pistons' Win Over Lakers
The Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers 128-106 on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. Cade Cunningham had 27 points and 11 assists and Marcus Sasser added 19 points and five assists off the bench.
It was the final game of a five-game road trip for the Pistons and the win snapped a two-game losing streak. Detroit had lost to the Clippers on Saturday and had a much needed off-day on Sunday.
According to Ron Holland, coach J.B. Bickerstaff had given the team a "mental day." Bickerstaff was asked about it after the game and gave an answer that drew some chuckles from the press.
J.B. Bickerstaff said in the postgame conference after the 128-106 W over the Lakers that playing soccer in UCLA campus helped his team, and there are plenty of similarities between the games (basketball and soccer) pic.twitter.com/48muHNE2gT
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) December 31, 2025
"We played soccer," said Bickerstaff. "That's what we did. We played soccer on UCLA's campus. It was time where you lose a couple in a row and people can get a little bit down and start thinking about it, but we haven't seen the sunshine in I don't know how long. So we just went outside and had a good time playing. The similarities between the games was great for our guys to see. The way we moved the ball when we were playing soccer. The way we advanced the ball when we were playing. The cuts, the reads we were making. It was great for our guys to see that and then it translates to the game of basketball."
Sunshine is a rare commodity in Detroit during the winter and it's still December. The Pistons have a home-heavy schedule coming up next month and might not see the sun again until they get to Phoenix and Golden State at the end of January. Let's hope this day of soccer is enough to help them sustain their success.
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Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.