Detroit Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff isn’t interested in letting last year’s first-round playoff exit erase what his team has done to the Knicks across the past two regular seasons.
“The regular season matters. How you present yourself every single night matters. I think people for whatever reason, because there’s 82 games, people want to devalue the regular season, but the regular season matters to help you get ready for where you’re going, and those experiences matter,” Bickerstaff said ahead of tipoff at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. “Confidence against an opponent matters. Belief that you can beat an opponent matters, especially when you tie in the experience of going through a playoff series and having that ability to take the next step.”
Detroit entered the post-All-Star meeting holding a 2-0 lead in the three-game season series, which meant the Pistons owned the tiebreaker regardless of the outcome at The Garden on Thursday. They went 3-1 against New York last season before the Knicks eliminated them in six games — a series that hinged on a missed foul call on Tim Hardaway Jr. that could have forced a Game 7.
“That series — still in my mind — could have gone either way depending on some circumstances we won’t get into tonight,” said Bickerstaff. “But it was a great learning lesson for our guys.”
To Bickerstaff, playoff heartbreak is less a setback than a prerequisite—the uncomfortable but necessary proof that a young core has reached the stage where details, discipline and execution matter more than talent, and the kind of failure that teaches lessons a regular-season win streak never can.
“The playoffs are a new beast no matter how you look at it. There’s so many things that go into playoff series and winning in the playoffs, but experience matters. Having failed in the playoffs matters,” he said. “You look at all the great teams or teams that have found a way to sustain success, and it never happened overnight — especially teams that didn’t make a dramatic roster overhaul. Teams that have built organically and add pieces on the outside that were built through draft picks and a core? You’ve gotta go through those things [losing playoff series].”
The Pistons had already beaten the Knicks by 31 and 37 points in the first two meetings this season — results that linger louder than the 0-2 mark in the standings. To Knicks head coach Mike Brown, the manner of defeat carried more weight than the tally itself.
“We want to win every game, and they’re the team that’s in front of us. Some people might say, ‘Oh, you lost to Detroit twice.’ Well, if we beat Detroit tonight and lose the next night, in my opinion, that’s a wash,” Brown said. “So this game is extremely important because it’s our next game, and add into that they’ve had our number, and so trying to do some different things against these guys because we may see each other in the playoffs is definitely something you look forward to.
“But it’s just as important as the rest of the games especially going down the stretch.”
