Pistons Win Home Opener, 92-87, Within a 'Reset Culture'

By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby

'Detroit isn't a place; Detroit is an attitude,' the video boards at the Palace at Auburn Hills claimed. It was the Pistons' season opener Wednesday night, and the team is trying to walk the talk it's put forth in its marketing slogans all offseason.

Detroit finished last season 32-50. Since then, the team has been pulling out all the stops to get its fans to trek 40 minutes outside the city for its games. Through billboards, commercials and T-shirts, the Pistons have declared Detroit a city of heart and hustle; they've declared that they're the team representing that mindset.

With a 2-0 start to the season for the first time since 2008, thanks to a 92-87 win over the Jazz Wednesday, the Pistons have changed plenty since last year. Half the team is new, and head coach Stan Van Gundy has brought his own flair to the franchise.

"I think he really began to just reset the culture at the Pistons," owner Tom Gores said. "(What) I'm really comfortable with right now is the new chemistry and this new culture that's reset. I'm pretty excited about it. I give so much credit to Stan Van Gundy."

With their history, the Pistons know what a winning culture feels like. Fans remember it. But there's still work to do to get back there.

Opening night (or at least the home version of it) did its best to jumpstart that process. During the pregame, a video highlighting basketball courts, streets and architecture from Detroit graced the jumbotron. Musical artist Cee Lo Green, in his shiniest silver outfit, performed at halftime.

An announced attendance of 18.434 filed into the Palace Wednesday night, but there were still entire rows empty in the upper deck. Those fans who were there, though, were all in. By the time Reggie Jackson rolled in his game-winning shot off a baseline drive, nobody was sitting.

"Positive," Stanley Johnson said. "From my hearsay, I know it (the crowd) gets a lot crazier than that if we keep doing what we're doing."

That's the kicker. The Pistons will lose eventually – no NBA team goes undefeated – and  doubt will pop up that their 2-0 start ever meant anything.

But as Jackson stood in the middle of the floor and flexed, moments after his team got the stop to follow up his game-winning shot, it was clear it did mean something. He lifted his chin and screamed to the rafters as teammates around him pumped their fists.

A culture of winning requires a certain level of love for, well, winning.

"I like the character our guys have shown," Van Gundy said. "I like the fight. I like the attitude that we've had in games even when things haven't gone well. That's all been really good."