Published: 13:52, 22 Dec 2023Updated: 13:59, 22 Dec 2023
Things continue to go from bad to worse for the utterly abject Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons lost their 25th straight game on Thursday night in a 119-111 defeat to a depleted Utah Jazz team.
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Cunningham has been the one bright spark for the Pistons in an otherwise terrible seasonCredit: Getty
Detroit, who are already on the longest losing streak in franchise history, are now closing in on tying the NBA’s longest single-season losing streak.
The 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers share the record of 26 consecutive losses.
A loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night will see the Pistons join that unwanted club.
The Pistons fell to 2-26 for the season in front of over 20,000 home fans at Little Caesars Arena.
Even they have started to turn on a team who is rock bottom in the Eastern Conference, with chants of, “Sell the team! Sell the team!” ringing out throughout the Jazz defeat.
Former No.1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, who came into the league with a high degree of fanfare, is powerless to stop the rot.
He finished with 28 points, ten assists, six rebounds, two steals, and one block against the Jazz but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 25th straight loss.
The 22-year-old struggled to find the words after the game to explain the dire situation but insisted the Pistons aren’t as bad as their record suggests.
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The young core have struggled this season and are in need of some veteran experienceCredit: Getty
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Monty Williams was a highly-thought of coach but he has overseen one of the worst losing streaks in NBA historyCredit: Getty
“This is history no-one wants to be a part of,” the Pistons point guard said.
“We’re not 2-26 bad – no way are we that bad.
“I think we can turn this around. We can play a much better brand of basketball.”
Anyone who has watched the Pistons this season would argue they really are that bad.
But to be fair to Cade he’s the one bright spark and is being completely wasted by a rudderless franchise.
The third-year pro has played in all 28 games so far this season and is averaging 22.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.0 steals per contest while shooting 43.5% from the field.
The Pistons have won just two games this season – two of their first three contests. However, their last victory came against the Chicago Bulls on October 29th and it has been barren spell ever since.
Team owner Tom Gores has been the owner of this Detroit franchise since 2011, after the passing of Bill Davidson. He hired former Oklahoma City Thunder GM Troy Weaver in 2019 to arrest their slide but things have gotten worse, not better.
Since Gores became sole owner of Pistons in 2015 the franchise has made the playoffs twice and posted just one winning season.
They finished 17-65 last season but there was fresh optimism heading into this campaign after appointing former Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams.
But Williams has not been able to get the best out of his young team and seems just as mystified as everyone else.
“I want to be careful with my words – this one hurts more than most of them,” he said after the Utah loss.
Unfortunately for Williams and the Pistons they’re probably going to have to endure a lot more pain before things improve.
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