The Detroit Pistons squandered a 21-point lead to the Boston Celtics on Thursday, falling 128-122 in overtime to push their losing streak to 28 games and tying the longest such run in NBA history. After the game, Pistons star Cade Cunningham took an optimistic tone in discussing how his team feels about the loss and when heading into games this season.
“I think it shows like we're on the same level as all these teams we're playing against,” Cunningham said, per ESPN. “There's no team that I've ever come across in the NBA where I felt like I was going into a slaughterhouse.”
The Pistons may not feel like they are going into a slaughterhouse each game, but they keep coming out slaughtered every night.
Detroit is now 2-29 on the season, and it hasn’t won a game since winning back-to-back contests against the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls on Oct. 27 and 28. Now, 28 games into their losing streak, the team is officially tied with the Philadelphia 76ers who lost the last 10 games of the 2014-15 season and the first 18 of 2015-16.
The Pistons owner is not happy
The 76ers lost 28 straight in the “Trust the Process” era when general manager Sam Hinkie was purposely trying to lose and accumulate lottery picks. For Cade Cunningham and the 2023-24 Pistons, this losing streak is not the plan, according to owner Tom Gores.
“We wanted to be competing every day, [to have] a chance for the play-in, playoffs,” Gores told reporters, per ESPN. “We wanted our players to grow. That would have been a success for us. … Those were the expectations: to compete, grow, and be near the playoffs. That's how you grow the most. Make no mistake about it, that was the expectation.”
The Pistons have fallen well short of those expectations, and the brutal loss to the Celtics shows what a bad spot the team is in.
Detroit will have a chance to become arguably the worst team in NBA history and break the 76ers record on Saturday, Dec. 30, when they face the Toronto Raptors at home.
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