Detroit Pistons: Bickerstaff Applauds Javonte Green’s Shooting Off The Bench

For the NBA regular season opener yesterday afternoon, the Detroit Pistons turned in a quintessential example on the importance of keeping a deep squad with a 121-113 win over the Boston Celtics. 

Although the Celtics got out to an early lead on Tuesday and pushed that advantage to over 20 points, the Pistons looked inward and turned to a key member of their bench, Javonte Green, to spark their comeback. With Green drilling five triples from the perimeter, the Pistons found a rhythm amid their 23-0 second half run, which was the largest unanswered burst in team history. 

In total, Green’s 19-point, four-rebound effort off the bench helped turn the tide for Detroit at a crucial moment, and Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff applauded the veteran’s performance after the game. 

”I thought we needed just a little bit of a boost, and Woo time and time again does it for us,” Bickerstaff said. “Obviously, you throw in the shot making, what he was doing defensively, the energy he brought— he could sit over there and be pissed off because he doesn’t play the first half, but that’s not the makeup of this group. That’s not his character.”

Alongside Green, the Pistons received a major lift from Duncan Robinson, who also did his best to knock down a handful of three-pointers on the night as well. Together, Green and Robinson combined for 67% of Detroit’s outside shooting against the Celtics, but the Eastern Conference matchup was truly a tale of two halves. 

During the first two quarters of the game, Celtics wing Paul George caught an early rhythm en route to a 38-point outburst in his Boston debut. With George putting the Celtics ahead early, the Pistons held the impetus to mount a charge in the second half if at all possible. As such, Detroit responded with 76 points after halftime to seal a thrilling comeback— the largest of the play-by-play era on Opening Day since 1997– for a big eight-point victory over the visiting Celtics. 

Robinson was responsible for 21 of the Pistons’ 121 points yesterday afternoon, which is a steady increase from his scoring average last season. These performances from Robinson and Green are not sustainable for the rest of the regular season on a nightly basis, but Detroit will certainly take those perimeter contributions to start the year off 1-0. 

From a team-wide perspective, the Pistons have upcoming matchups against the Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks, so the 2026-27 campaign is going to come at Detroit pretty quickly right off the bat. However, the Pistons have a couple days to rest up before traveling down to Florida for a Friday, Oct. 23 contest against the Miami Heat. Tip-off against the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Heat is scheduled for 8 pm between two squads that could factor into the Eastern Conference playoffs several months from now.