What Needed To Shift for Detroit Pistons To Storm Back Against Atlanta Hawks

The Detroit Pistons felt the absence of Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart last night.

Detroit dug themselves into a hole in the first half. They were down 73 to 55 and had a lot of uphill climbing to do when the third quarter began. Former Sacramento Kings and current New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown became the first unanimous NBA coach of the year after the 2022-2023 season.

Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff likely won't become the second unanimous NBA coach of the year, but it's moments like these that really highlight his impact on this young Pistons team.

The Pistons rank No. 2 in defensive rating for the entire season.

For the month of March, Detroit sits at No. 9 in defensive rating. Ausar Thompson missed five games this month and the Pistons endured their worst losing streak of the season as well. In the first half, they played out of their element and away from their identity. Bickerstaff straightened things out for the Pistons at halftime.

The Hawks' speed called for better defense

Bickerstaff spoke to the media after the overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night. Pistons center Jalen Duren led the team in scoring with 26 and Daniss Jenkins dished out ten assists to teammates. They lost 130 to 129. Bickerstaff was asked what needed to shift at halftime to get the tenacious response fans saw from Detroit in the second half.

"It was just defensively. Everything in the first half with them because of the speed that they play at, was just coming so easy [for the Hawks]. The way they were shooting, I think they were 10 for 20 at halftime. Things were just too easy for them. I thought we did a much better job in the second half of making things difficult."
J.B. Bickerstaff

Jalen Johnson dropped 27 points, dished out 12 assists, and collected eight rebounds off the glass for the Hawks. C.J. McCollum also scored 27 points while shooting 10 of 21 from the field. It was an efficient and offensively smooth game from the Hawks duo. The Hawks have now won 15 of their last 17 regular season games.

Detroit stayed true to their identity

The Pistons rank No. 19 in pace for the entire regular season. Detroit have played physical defensively and efficiently offensively in the halfcourt. In March, the Pistons have only gotten slower as they rank No. 23 in pace this month. The Pistons had to stay true to what has been so successful for them all season, rather than play outside of themselves.

"Playing more to our tempo to. I thought in the first half, offensively we were trying to play more to their game. In the second half, we settled in, played our tempo, and we were much better."
J.B. Bickerstaff

Some teams would have sent up the white flag, down 21, short key players with 5 games in 7 days staring them in the face.

The Pistons? Nah.

"No moral victories, but proud of our guys."https://t.co/8HSXVztRty
— Keith Langlois (@Keith_Langlois) March 26, 2026

The Pistons still lead the NBA in points in the paint per game. Detroit outscored Atlanta in the third and fourth quarter. Atlanta held on late and scored just one more point than the Pistons in overtime to secure the victory.

Detroit can't afford to dig themselves into holes like this in the NBA Playoffs. The Pistons showed a lot of championship qualities last night, including resilience, mental toughness, and accountability. Detroit came out of yesterday's loss against Atlanta with lessons to be learned and clutch time experience for the postseason.