JB Bickerstaff hails Pistons heroics in stunning win over Knicks

The The Detroit Pistons’ resilience continues with a thrilling 124-119 victory over the New York Knicks. Monday night’s Eastern Conference clash went all night at Madison Square Garden. With both teams trading momentum, the Pistons held their composure late to finish with the win.

Detroit began the regular season struggling to pull off comeback efforts or cut the lead against its opponents. But now, they early season questions that seems to be a thing of the past, as the Pistons are now turning these tight finishes into wins. Coach JB Bickerstaff specified to the media how his team deserved the victory.

“I thought our guys did a great job of finding ways to score. They were getting buckets in their end, but we had to find ways to match them. “To end the game with Tim Hardaway (Jr.) making those unselfish plays, that’s what we talked about,” Bickerstaff explained. “That’s the foundation, that’s who we are.” He is a good shooter. He had opportunities to use them. He notified Malik (Beasley) twice and Malik helped shut it down.”

New York tried to regain the lead late. Knicks forward Mikal Bridges cut the Pistons’ lead to one with a 3-pointer with 1:26 left to make it 118-117. Detroit relied on Beasley to hit back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead to five.

Foul trouble couldn’t slow down Cade Cunningham in the Pistons’ win

The Knicks raced to a key advantage by fouling Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham early. New York baited the star point guard into four first-half fouls, which limited his aggressiveness on offense and defense. The Pistons were able to keep the game close by a score of 63-59 at halftime.

Cunningham was limited to seven points in the first half, but erupted for 29 points in the final two quarters. Detroit’s star point guard didn’t record another foul the rest of the game and led the offense all the way for the Pistons. Bickerstaff he is a deserving franchise leader at the post-game media conference about what it took to play through those circumstances.

“Think about how many guys are good enough to do that. There are some guys that have the ability to say, ‘I’m going to do it,’ and then go out and do it,” Bickerstaff said. “I think we saw Cade step up to being the successor to the elite in this game.” I’m hard-pressed to find anyone who does it better than he does now. Influenced the win in a big way, making his teammates better.”

Cunningham led all scorers with 36 points on the night. His scoring was efficient for the Pistons as he went 14-27 from the field and 4-8 from 3-point range. Bickerstaff continued to admire Cunningham’s performance with the media.

“What I’m impressed with is how he picks his spots and times,” Bickerstaff said. “We ended that second quarter kind of clumsily, and he put us on his back to help us settle, and then he let everybody around him do their thing.”

Six different Pistons scored in double figures to help their winning streak. Beasley scored 22 points off the bench on 7-13 shooting from the field and 6-8 shooting from 3. Forwards Tobias Harris and Ausar Thompson each scored eleven points for Detroit. The other starters, Jalen Duren and Tim Hardaway Jr., scored ten points each.