A few hours before coaching the Detroit Pistons to win No. 56, J.B. Bickerstaff said young teams must experience postseason failure before achieving success.

Given that the Pistons have an average age of 26 and only one playoff series as a unit — last year’s first-round loss to the New York Knicks — he was asked why he believes Detroit can buck that trend.

“We got a feeling of what it felt like last year versus the Knicks,” Bickerstaff said. “A series that was highly contested, and one that kind of made us feel like there was more out there to be had. That fueled what our guys did this summer and turned it into this year. I do think experience matters, and experience for people is different.

“In the playoffs, in particular, when you are a young team and you’re facing new experiences, it’s determined by how quickly you can learn and adjust to that experience. If in Game 1 you learn something and experience something, in Game 2, can you fix it? If it takes you three games, you’re probably going to lose that series. Experience just dictates how quickly you learn, and then that leads to success, in my opinion.”

The postseason and regular season are almost opposites, and the Pistons are aware of that. However, the habits they’ve developed throughout an injury-riddled season have them within a win or a Boston Celtics loss of claiming the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2007.

With Cade Cunningham (left lung pneumothorax) and Isaiah Stewart (left calf strain) both sidelined indefinitely — and with  Tobias Harris suffering a left knee contusion in Thursday’s 113-108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves — Detroit is continuing to stack quality victories without some key players. A collective effort on both sides of the ball is the norm.

The All-Star-sized void Cunningham has left has fast-tracked Daniss Jenkins’ game. The second-year guard is averaging 19.3 points on 44.2 percent 3-point shooting, 7.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds in nine games since Cunningham went down with a collapsed left lung.

Jalen Duren’s evolution began nearly as soon as the season did, but he’s reaching new heights as an offensive engine in Cunningham’s absence as well. He’s averaging 23.3 points on 66.3 percent shooting, 11.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists in this stint without Cunningham. The group as a whole has picked up its play, from Ausar Thompson to Duncan Robinson to Kevin Huerter to Javonte Green to Paul Reed.

“Obviously, we’re better with (Cade), Stew and today (without) Tobias on the floor,” Duren said. “But I think having guys come in and get reps in, get shots up, see the ball go through (the rim) — the type of offense we’re playing with everybody being involved — it gets everybody’s confidence up. It gets everybody’s juices flowing going into that postseason.

“So I think it’s going to be good. I think we’re going to be in a great spot when everybody comes back. We’re just going to hit the ground running.”

There’s a real chance the Pistons will be without Cunningham for the remainder of the regular season. Detroit announced on Thursday that its franchise cornerstone, who has been out since March 10, will miss at least another week before being re-evaluated.

That time frame means Cunningham will be ineligible for the end-of-season NBA awards and will miss at least the team’s next three games. Bickerstaff stressed the importance of Cunningham being at full strength when he returns. Cunningham’s health will be prioritized above all else, and Detroit will take its time in reintegrating him.

This means the offensive style Duren described will likely see more runway over the Pistons’ final stretch of the regular season.

Detroit’s 31 assists per game during its last nine games are up from the 27.5 for the season. The Pistons are also shooting better from the field (50 percent) and 3-point line (38.7 percent) during that span. Their offense has had to rely more on movement without Cunningham’s pick-and-roll mastery.

This scheme could prove to be a valuable weapon for Detroit when the game inevitably slows down and becomes much more half-court centric during the playoffs. After every Pistons win sans Cunningham, their confidence about succeeding in the postseason rises.

“Every player we have is capable of coming in and contributing at a high level,” Thompson said after nearly notching his first career triple-double with seven points, nine assists, nine rebounds and five stocks (three blocks and two steals). “So if someone gets hurt, God forbid, or maybe someone’s not having the best game, we have full faith that the next person can come in and they’ll elevate us.”

Four of Detroit’s five final regular-season games will be on the road. Three of the five will be against teams currently above .500, but at this point in the season, the Pistons have firmly established their identity. They know who they are, and what’s necessary to win games — whether they’re healthy or not.

The more Detroit continues to foster internal growth without Cunningham, the better shape it’ll be in once he’s back in the lineup. And the better the Pistons are upon Cunningham’s return, the better their chances are to make the deep postseason run they’ve been envisioning since before the regular season began.

“Our aim is to be playing our best basketball, and it’s all systematic stuff,” Bickerstaff said. “Our guys understand that. There’s opportunities for individual freedoms within it, but guys don’t step outside of it to be something that they’re not.

“That’s on both ends of the floor. So as long as we’re sound in our system and playing at our best, that’s going to give us a chance to win basketball games down the stretch.”