With a 118-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, the Detroit Pistons lost their 27th game in a row, setting a new single-season losing streak in the NBA. Now 2-28, the Pistons haven't won a game since their October 28 home opener. Furthermore, the Pistons are now one game shy of tying the all-time NBA record of 28, set by the Sixers over the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons.
Entering the game, head coach Monty Williams couldn't help but reflect on the infamy of the streak. "Again, when you look at records, you think of coaches, but I'm sure the players don't want that attached to the name on the jersey. Was it heavy? It's been heavy for a while. That's just the nature of this kind of losing streak and it's not gonna change because we're grading the level of it, we've got to do what we've got to do to change it," Williams said.
Pistons Attempt To Rally In Face Of Losing Streak
After the game, rising star Cade Cunningham reportedly gave a "passionate speech" to his teammates. Cunningham, Detroit's No. 1 pick in 2021, is the team's leading scorer with 23 points a game. "I don't think what I said was positivity, I think it's just being real … there's nothing positive about this situation right now that we put ourselves in, so that's why we have to dig deep and get ourselves out of it. You can't get away from it. It weighs on us every day, I mean everywhere. It weighs on us," Cunningham told reporters.
The Pistons have two more games before the end of 2023. First, they face the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics. After that, the Pistons close out the year against the 11-18 Raptors on December 30. Furthermore, members of the team bristled at fans chanting "Sell the team" during the game. "Chanting 'sell the team,' I thought it was a bit much because we're growing and obviously the record and a lot of people expected us to be better in this upcoming point of the season, but we're gonna continue to row the boat and we're gonna forget what everybody else says, stay together and play for each other," said Jaden Ivey.
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