Although the Detroit Pistons defended home court in Games 1 and 2, there has been a notable change on the road. Coming off a 112-103 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4, their second consecutive defeat, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff shed light on what may have hindered his team’s performance.
During his postgame media availability on Monday night, J.B. Bickerstaff was livid with the officials. While addressing the loss, he highlighted the manner in which the officiating had changed after the Pistons had arrived in Cleveland, stating:
“It’s unacceptable. It is. We didn’t do enough, obviously, to help ourselves, and I’ll start there. But ever since we came to Cleveland, the whistle has changed. There’s no way that one guy on their team shoots more free throws than our team.”
In this context, J.B. Bickerstaff may be referring to Cavaliers superstar Donovan Mitchell, who went 13-15 from the free-throw line in Game 4. In comparison, the Pistons, as a team, attempted only 12 free throws for the entire matchup.
“We’re not a settle team; we’re not a jump-shooting team. We drive the ball and attack the paint,” he noted. “So what was done out there tonight, it’s frustrating, but we can’t allow that to be the reason why we didn’t play to the best of our capabilities.”
“But again, you look at the foul count, you look at the disparity, and that’s hard to overcome, and you wonder the reason why. It’s interesting since Kenny made his comments publicly about us, the whistle has changed in this series.”
Typically, blaming the referees and aspects such as free-throw disparity may present a poor image for a team with title aspirations. However, the case in Game 4 was quite egregious.
As mentioned earlier, the Pistons only attempted 12 free throws for the game, with Cade Cunningham leading the side with three free throw attempts. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers shot 30-34 from the charity stripe, with players Donovan Mitchell and James Harden alone combining for double the free throw attempts that Detroit had.
In this regard, J.B. Bickerstaff’s outrage seems justified. Although both sides have complained about foul calls, when examining the disparity across the four games, the 89-105 differential in Cleveland’s favor further validates Bickerstaff’s issues with the officiating.
Needless to say, the manner in which the fouls have been called has also had an adverse impact on the way the Pistons are playing. J.B. Bickerstaff made a note of this, commenting:
“It makes it difficult to [play]. It’s interesting, I’ll say again, on each side of the ball. You guys will go back and watch it yourselves, but watch when Duncan Robinson comes off screens and the amount of hands that are on him, and whistles weren’t being blown.”
Duncan Robinson has been a key factor for the Pistons in this series, primarily because of his ability to stretch the floor with his three-point shooting. Although he has been reliable in the postseason thus far, averaging 12.3 points and 2.7 rebounds on 43.4% shooting from three-point range, his underwhelming performance of four points and a rebound on 1-2 shooting from the field in 29 minutes in Game 4 is quite jarring.
To that point, J.B. Bickerstaff mentioned that the Pistons would rewatch the game tape and send it to the league for further review, hinting that further action may be necessary. Given the consequences this could have on the remainder of the series, especially with the next game due to be played in Detroit, the Pistons could bounce back with renewed vigor.
