Pistons make franchise history amid winning streak

The Bulls salvaged some pride in the second half, outscoring the Pistons bench units to reduce the margin of defeat to 40. Yet, Detroit's 40-point margin marked its largest since 2012 and tied for its third largest ever in an away game, per ESPN Stats & Research. 

Amid their incredible turnaround, a few Pistons have set franchise benchmarks. Sharpshooter Malik Beasley drained seven threes on Tuesday to clinch the team record for most threes in a season. Also, Cade Cunningham became the third-fastest player ever to reach the combined tally of 4,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,300 assists. 

While Beasley and Cunningham have been key to the Pistons' turnaround, a lion's share of the credit goes to J.B. Bickerstaff, who inherited a franchise that hit rock bottom not long ago. 

Bickerstaff has instilled a hard-nosed culture that celebrates defense and hustle, almost reminiscent of the Bad Boy Pistons of the 1980s. During Tuesday's win over the Bulls, Bickerstaff's team had a +12 advantage on rebounds with seven steals and four blocks within the first half. 

The Pistons frontcourt of Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson did a number on Nikola Vucevic and denied Coby White from getting anywhere close to the rim. The defensive clinic meant the Bulls shot 12-of-52 in the first half, including 1-of-23 from three. 

After the emphatic win, Thompson said the team was determined to build its identity around defense.

"Everything starts with defense because you get a stop, get a rebound and push it," Thompson said of his team's identity, via The Athletic. "You don’t want to get (the ball) out of the net against a set defense all night, so I feel like when we do that, we're at our best."

On a three-game winning streak, the Pistons take a winning record into the All-Star break for the first time in 16 seasons, per ESPN Research. They are trying to reach the postseason for the first time since 2018-19 and only the third time since 2008-09. The Pistons haven't won a playoff game since the 2007-08 conference finals against the Celtics.