Pistons Coach’s Honest Statement on Struggles vs Kings Stars

JB Bickerstaff revealed his thoughts on his team's struggles against the Sacramento Kings' star group.

Feb 24, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine (8) and forward DeMar DeRozan (10) and forward Keegan Murray (13) walk up the court during the first quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

After spending years being division rivals of the Chicago Bulls duo of Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, the Detroit Pistons saw the two All-Stars in a different light on Monday.

As members of the Sacramento Kings, DeRozan and LaVine quickly got comfortable on the road in Michigan and gave Detroit’s defense a tough time.

Despite having a notable double-digit lead early on, the Pistons eventually allowed the Kings to get out in front. After the game, Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff didn’t hold back with his comments on the team’s defensive performance.

“We gotta be better defensively—our execution and our game plan was poor,” Bickerstaff told reporters

“We have to be better defensively.”

Bickerstaff speaks on the #Pistons' loss to the Kings and giving up 99 points to Kings Big 3 of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis. pic.twitter.com/yuPxmVt6l5

— Coty M. Davis (@CotyDavis_24) April 8, 2025

“Understanding their personnel and their tendencies was poor. That’s on us to be better. Obviously, those guys are elite basketball players. Really, really good—but if you allow them to play to their strengths, they become even better. We didn’t do a good enough job of taking away their strengths tonight.”

DeMar DeRozan checked in for 37 minutes and put up 26 shots against the Pistons. He made 65 percent of his twos and went 8-10 from the free-throw line. By the end of the night, DeRozan had 37 points on 54 percent shooting from the field.

LaVine took care of business from deep. In 44 minutes of action, the star scorer hit on eight of his 11 shots from beyond the arc. Knocking down 57 percent of his shots from the field, the Kings forward produced 43 points on the night, which marked his Sacramento high since joining the Kings in early February.

The Kings defeated the Pistons 127-117. Detroit falls into a two-game skid with just a few games left on the schedule. The Pistons remain locked into a top-six playoff position, but they fall 1.5 games back from the fifth seed.