Detroit Pistons face final chance to avoid carrying NBA-record losing streak into 2024
The Detroit Pistons will host the Toronto Raptors on Saturday with much more than a regular season NBA game on the line. A misfire in Detroit's Little Caesars Arena will stack a 29th consecutive loss on the Pistons' record, ending 2023 in a unparalleled slump for an NBA franchise.
On Thursday, the Pistons matched the league record of 28 consecutive losses that was set by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2015. The Pistons lost in heartbreaking fashion, 128-122 in overtime to the Boston Celtics, who hold the NBA's best record. Second year guard Cade Cunningham scored a team-high 31 points.
"We're on the same level as all these teams were playing against," said Cunningham, according to the Associated Press, whom Detroit selected with the first overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft. "There's no team that I've ever come across in the NBA where I felt like I was going into a slaughterhouse."
Despite the outcome, Pistons head coach Monty Williams said he was unbelievably proud of his team.
"It takes a lot of character and integrity to do what they're doing. I've been in the league for a while, and I've seen teams give in to circumstances that are less than we're dealing with," Williams said on NBA TV after the loss.
Detroit's last win came on Oct. 28 over the Chicago Bulls. To add to the uphill battle Detroit is facing, center Isaiah Stewart is expected to miss the next two weeks with a toe injury. Stewart was not available in the loss on Thursday.
The Raptors project to be a much easier opponent than the Celtics, having lost seven of their last 10 games and holding a 12-18 record.
"I'm not interested in just winning one more game this year — you know what I mean? To stop this. That would be soft, in my opinion," Cunningham said, per the AP. "Our goals are a lot higher than that. We have what it takes to win a game, that's nothing. But to put games together, to find our system, find what's clicking and allow us to sustain winning – that's all we're looking for."
If the Pistons fail against the Raptors, they won't have to wait long for redemption — Detroit's first game of 2024 comes on Jan. 1 against the Houston Rockets.