DETROIT – First came the scuffle between Cade Cunningham and Khris Middleton, which led to a pair of technical fouls in the first quarter.
Then there was a disagreement between Ron Holland and Marcus Smart, when the Wizards star approached the Pistons bench and the Detroit rookie stopped him. Two more technicals in the second quarter.
Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff got in on the action with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, when he was given a technical foul for complaining to an official.
And the last four minutes of the Pistons’ eventual 20-point win over Washington featured a pair of flagrant fouls on the Wizards: an ejection for Richaun Holmes for elbowing Ausar Thompson in the jaw and a flagrant foul on Smart for a forearm to the face of Tim Hardaway Jr.
There were plenty of fireworks for [a Tuesday night blowout win against a last-place team.](https://www.mlive.com/sports/2025/03/pistons-handle-wizards-to-open-homestand.html) But that’s just how Detroit players like it.
“It’s just basketball, it makes it fun,” Pistons center Jalen Duren said of the game’s chippy nature. “It’s not fun when the game is quiet, the crowd is quiet, and everybody’s going through motions. So, I think we thrive in those settings.”
As this young Pistons team has formed its identity throughout a surprising run towards the NBA playoffs, it’s emerged as a team that isn’t afraid of confrontation.
The Pistons lead the NBA both in technical fouls (their 69 technicals are 14 more than any other team in the league) and in technical fouls by its opponents. Three Pistons players rank among the top 14 in the league in technical fouls: Isaiah Stewart is fourth in the league with 12 technical fouls, followed by Malik Beasley with eight and Cunningham with six.
Nobody in the Pistons locker room has a problem with that.
**“**I think any game where we kind of get into a scuffle or a little pushing match, it just fuels the fire,” Duren said. “We’re a team who likes to play with emotion, and we can play with emotion.”
Indeed, the chippiness has proven to help Detroit at times. On Tuesday, the first double technicals came in the middle of a 15-5 Pistons run. The two late flagrant fouls helped the Pistons close out a game that got from 20 points to single digits in the fourth quarter.
Bickerstaff said he appreciates his team’s ability to stay focused through situations that could prove distracting.
“It’s just the maturation that’s happened throughout the season, understanding how important these games are to us, what it’s going to take to get the job done, and finding that consistency,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s not something you just turn and off and I think our guys have found that.”
The Pistons high technical count is in part a natural outgrowth of its playing style. Bickerstaff challenges his players to play physical on both ends of the court to wear teams down. With that style, though, often comes disagreements.
“We just play with a physical force,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s our intent. Our intent is to be as physical on the offensive end of the floor as we are on the defensive end of the floor and see how many teams can sustain it.”
After those two late flagrant fouls on Tuesday night, the Pistons will see the Wizards again less than 48 hours later. If that scheduling leads to some chippy play, the Pistons will welcome it.
“Obviously when the game gets chippy, we love that,” Stewart said. “That’s where we excel. We love gritty games.”