DETROIT — The Detroit Pistons are on their best run of form in nearly 20 years. The Pistons are amid a 10-game winning streak through 14 games of the 2025-26 season and sit atop the Eastern Conference with a 12-2 record.
This is the longest winning streak the Pistons have had since 2007-08 and the best start for the team since 2005, when the franchise started 15-2 en route to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The 2000s were the most fruitful period of Pistons basketball in recent memory, but the current iteration of the team is starting to make some noise. It’s getting the notice of NBA coaches, including ex-Detroit coach Rick Carlisle.
“They play with an attitude, they play with a toughness,” Carlisle said before the Pistons’ win over his Indiana Pacers Monday night. “Reminds me a lot of my two Detroit teams in the early 2000s with some real toughness with the Ben Wallaces and the (Jerry) Stackhouses and the Cliff Robinsons and Mike Curry and those kind of guys that wanted to be a part of something special.”
Carlisle spent two seasons helming the Pistons in the early 2000s, going 50-32 in both years and reaching the playoffs. They were eliminated in the conference semifinals in 2002 before reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in 2003.
The following season the Pistons would win the NBA Finals under coach Larry Brown.
Identity and culture has been one of the focuses for the Pistons in their revival since coach J.B. Bickerstaff took over the franchise before last season.
Everywhere Bickerstaff has been, his culture of toughness and grit follows him.
Carlisle has known and coached against Bickerstaff for quite some time. The two have shared the Southwest Division from Bickerstaff’s run with the Memphis Grizzlies and Carlisle’s time with the Dallas Mavericks and now the Central Division from Bickerstaff’s stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Pistons and Carlisle’s return to the Pacers in 2021.
There was little surprise for Carlisle when Bickerstaff found his spot in Detroit after being fired by the Cavaliers in 2024 and proceeded to take the Pistons to the playoffs in his first year.
Now in Year 2 with the Pistons and the culture developing further, Detroit is top of the conference and doing so with quite a lot of injuries. Stars like Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris and Ausar Thompson have missed multiple games and Detroit keeps winning.
That speaks to the culture that Carlisle praises Bickerstaff’s ability to establish.
“He’s done phenomenal jobs really everywhere he’s been,” Carlisle said of Bickerstaff. “Most recently Cleveland that went from lottery to playoffs to winning in the playoffs and then here where it was two years ago, it was really a down year to playoffs and almost upsetting New York in the first round.
“And then that momentum has carried through this year and even more impressive is the way they’ve been able to continue to win games with a lot of the key guys out.”
The Pistons were without Cunningham, Harris and feature wing Ausar Thompson Monday night and continued their winning streak to 10 games on their home court.
With Detroit surging like we haven’t seen in decades, it’s no wonder Carlisle is being reminded of a team that won consistently and were a threat in the postseason on an annual basis.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.