CLEVELAND (AP) — J.B. Bickerstaff was prepared for whatever Cleveland fans had in store for him.
He knows them as well as anyone. Often criticized for his rotations, in-game strategies and blamed for playoff losses during four-plus seasons coaching the Cavaliers, Detroit's first-year coach wasn't sure what type of reaction he'd get in his first game back. “Who knows?” Bickerstaff said with a smile.
"My time here, I got a mixed reception. I might get booed. I might get cheered.
Who knows?” Fired following last season despite rebuilding the Cavs and leading them to the Eastern Conference semifinals, Bickerstaff returned to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Friday night as the Pistons played their first road game of the season. Bickerstaff, who went 170-159 with the Cavs and twice took them to the playoffs, said it was strange riding a bus to the arena instead of driving from his home on Cleveland's west side. He joked that he wasn't overwhelmed by nostalgia when he walked back into a building he knows so well.
“Absolutely nothing,” he said when asked what crossed his mind in his first moments back. “I didn’t recognize these (remodeled) halls back here trying to figure out where to go, but that’s it. I know there is a deal to be made about it.
"But honestly, all we’re trying to do is get together what we have, get better every day and spend your focus there.” That was Bickerstaff's mantra during his stay in Cleveland. And while he had his challenges, he took ov.
