And it’s that simple.” That doesn’t fly everywhere, but it does in Detroit — and it had better. With that comes something for them to embrace, for the present and the future. For now, any team seeing the Pistons on their schedule knows they’re in for a long night — and that’s expected to continue in the playoffs when they begin in three weeks.

Three players along with J.B. Bickerstaff were ejected early in the second quarter following a bench-clearing fight with the Minnesota Timberwolves.