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JB Bickerstaff Reacts to Pistons’ Major Mistake vs Pacers

Detroit Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff explained the team's viral mistake against the Pacers.
Justin Grasso|
Feb 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff reacts in the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images
Feb 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff reacts in the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

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Indiana PacersDetroit Pistons

This year, the Detroit Pistons are trying to turn things around, going from a laughingstock of the NBA to turning into a legitimate competitive threat on a nightly basis.

Wednesday’s game was a great start for the team turning into the latter type, but they still made a major mistake, which had social media having a field day.

As Detroit attempted to close out the fourth quarter with their first win of the season against an Eastern Conference contender, they were hit with a technical foul for having too many players on the court.

After the game, Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff addressed the mistake.

“It’s very early in the year for this. It was just confusion,” the head coach told reporters. “Some of our guys were told to stay. It was just unclear of who was supposed to stay and who was not supposed to stay. The referee told some of our guys to stay on the substitution. There was just confusion as to who was supposed to stay and who wasn’t.”

Every team, including the Pistons, is still in early season form. Since the Pistons developed a reputation for making many mistakes throughout their 14-68 journey last year, they were an easy target for jokes getting made at their expense during Wednesday night’s opening slate.

However, the Pistons proved they are not the same team. With some key additions to the roster and major changes in the front office and to the coaching staff, Detroit nearly took down a Pacers team that’s fresh off of a Conference Finals run.

On Friday night, they’ll look to bounce back against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Justin Grasso was a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s 76ers On SI Network. Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoMedia

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