Pistons’ JB Bickerstaff credits ‘Detroit vs. All’ mentality in big win against Rockets

Detroit The Pistons began a five-game stretch with a 107-96 win over the Houston Rockets.

After dropping their last two home games against the Indiana Pacers and Phoenix Suns, the Pistons bounced back with a tough win against the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Detroit has played some of its best basketball on the road this season, going 12-10. Head Coach JB Bickerstaff elaborated by the media how the road environment brought this production for his team.

“Weirdly, our guys are kind of thriving on the road. Whatever those environments bring them, I think it just highlights how connected this group is. And they like to play in adverse environments,” Bickerstaff explained. “They like to be put in a situation where ‘Detroit vs. Everyone”. When that seems to be the case, we seem to be at our best.”

Detroit had to battle waves of momentum on the road against Houston. The first quarter favored the Pistons to come out of the gate with an eleven-point lead, but seven turnovers in the second quarter gave the Rockets a chance to tie the game at halftime. Detroit cleaned up its execution on both ends of the floor in the second half to seal its victory.

The Pistons moved back over .500 for the regular season with a 22-21 record. They remain one of the hottest teams in 2025 at 8-3 through their eleven games in the month.

Pistons guard Cade Cunningham came out of the slump with an impressive performance and carried his team. The Pacers and Suns limited Cunningham to 14-of-47 shooting from the field and 2-of-14 from three in the previous two games. That slump changed against the Rockets as they poured in 32 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from three.

Cunningham’s All Star momentum remains high after his performance on Monday. Detroit’s 6’7 guard flirted with another triple-double by grabbing nine rebounds and seven assists. Cunningham had 10 of 22 turnovers, but managed to win despite the struggle. He made up for the turnover issues with an unstoppable 19-point third quarter against Houston’s defenders.

The Pistons got some help before the game from the leadership of their franchise point guard. Cunningham gathered the team before tip-off to focus on finishing with a win. Sixth man Malik Beasley talked about what was said in the pregame huddle in his postgame media session.

“Cade brought us on with about 16 minutes to go.” He said ‘if we lose tonight, we’re going to lose because we played hard and just missed shots,” Beasley said. “We’re going to win, we’re going to play hard and we’re not going to get outdone tonight,”

Beasley led the second unit in scoring with 17 points in 29 minutes. Center Jalen Duren had one of his most impressive performances of the season recording his 16th double-double. Duren scored 16 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and produced a monstrous defensive effort with four steals, two blocks and limited Houston center Alperen Sengun to a quiet day. Forward Ausar Thompson he was impressive against his twin brother Amen, scoring 11 points and grabbing nine rebounds of his own.