The Pistons’ 28th consecutive loss was unlike many others that had preceded it, making it the longest losing streak in NBA history.
The result was the same.
Detroit blew a 21-point lead against the league-best Boston Celtics on Thursday night and then rallied from a six-point deficit in the final minutes to force overtime before the Celtics held on for a 128-122 win. It was the first time the Pistons led by more than 20 points all season, and the first time they had gone to overtime in the two months since their previous win.
“I’m incredibly proud of the group, the way they’ve brought it all together,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “He’s heard all the things about our team and he keeps bringing it. I know it will bear fruit.”
Detroit fell to 2–29 and tied the ‘Trust the Process’ Philadelphia 76ers with 28 consecutive losses; The Pistons need a win at home against Toronto on Saturday night to avoid breaking the NBA record for longest losing streak.
Among major North American sports, only the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals, who lost 29 consecutive from 1942–45, have had a longer losing streak.
“I’m not interested in winning just one more game this year – you know what I mean? To stop this. “In my opinion, that would be soft,” said Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, who scored 22 points in the first half but missed a potential winning three-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation.
“Our goals are much higher than that. We have everything we need to win the game, it’s nothing. But to put games together, to find our system, find what’s clicking and allow us to maintain wins. “That’s all we’re looking for.”
Boston erased a 66–45 lead in the second quarter with a 19–5 run in the third, turning a 15-point deficit into a 77–76 game. Kristaps Porzingis had eight of his season-high 35 points in a 10–0 run that turned a four-point deficit into a 106–100 Boston lead in the final two minutes of regulation.
Jayden Ivey scored six consecutive points to tie it for Detroit and then, after Jayson Tatum was credited with a layup on a replay-confirmed goaltending call, Bojan Bogdanovic made a putback on Cunningham’s missed three-pointer. Sent to OT.
But Derrick White scored 10 of his 23 points in the extra period and Porzingis scored six points in overtime — dunking after a full-court pass from Tatum and then sinking a pair of free throws to make it 125-117.
“As bad as they’re hurting right now, I feel for them,” Williams said. “But I told them: ‘If we bring that kind of toughness and execution — excluding turnovers — we’re not just going to win a game. We’re going to put something together.’
Tatum had 31 points and 10 assists for Boston, which won its fourth straight and ninth in the last 10 games. The Celtics, who were without Jaylen Brown, are 15-0 at home this season and have a league-best record at 24-6.
“We’re at the same level that all these teams were playing against,” said Cunningham, who had 31 points and nine assists. “I’ve never seen a team in the NBA where I felt like I was going to a slaughterhouse. I’ve never felt like this going to a basketball game in my life.
“So in every game we have to be able to fight teams and impose our will on them. We did this in the beginning itself. We loosened the rope a little bit in the third quarter. But there was a lot of growth and we can learn from it and definitely take it into the next game.”
Ivey had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Jalen Duren had 15 points and 14 rebounds and Bogdanovich had 17 points and 12 boards.
The Pistons set an NBA record for most consecutive losses in a season with a 27th consecutive loss to Brooklyn, 118-112, on Tuesday night. The Sixers’ run spanned two seasons, 2014–15 and 2015–16.
