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It’s been sixty-two days since the Detroit Pistons last won a game. But, for a while, it looked like that streak was going to come to an end against arguably the league’s best team in the Boston Celtics.
The Pistons, who came in as 16.5 point dogs, led by 21 points just before halftime and 19 at halftime, well on their way to their first win in twenty-eight times.
Naturally, it all fell apart, as the Pistons were outscored by nineteen in the third quarter, and eventually lost in overtime, 128-122, Thursday night in Boston.
They already broke the record of 26 straight losses that was shared by the 2010 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2014 Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night with their 27th consecutive loss. It would stand to reason that nobody gave them a chance to beat the league-best 24-6 Celtics.
Still, this was probably the best the team has played during their long losing streak, taking a team like Boston to the brink. But, like so many times during this long nightmare, they simply couldn’t make the plays needed down the stretch to win the game.
Veteran wing Bogdan Bogdanović did tip in a miss at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime. But, cold shooting plagued the Pistons in the extra period, as they went 2/8 from three.
They’re now 2-29. Will they win another game this year? You’d have to think so, right? But, they’ve now lost an entire one-third of the season in a row. This was a team full of promising young players with a high-priced coach in former Suns head man in Monty Williams. I think many Detroit Pistons fans expected this team to compete for a Play-In spot. Instead, they got one of the most catastrophic seasons in NBA history.
Detroit will try to end their misery on Saturday at home against the Toronto Raptors.