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Eric Woodyard, ESPN
DETROIT — It’s history that not many fans inside Little Caesars Arena were looking forward to experiencing Tuesday night, but the Detroit Pistons couldn’t avoid NBA infamy, dropping their 27th straight game with a 118-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
It’s the most consecutive losses in a single season in league history. The 76ers have the overall record, losing 28 straight, but that spanned the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
Detroit hasn’t won a game since its home opener Oct. 28, against Chicago, and now is 2-28 on the season.
Entering Tuesday’s game, Pistons coach Monty Williams couldn’t avoid the topic of the all-time losing mark — something he said he didn’t want his name connected to.
“Streaks like that are attached to the coach. So, I’ve always felt like that was on me and been pretty blunt about that,” Williams said before tipoff. “I’m sure the players don’t want to be involved in any type of losing at all, but I’ve said from jump street, the responsibility of this kind of thing is on me.
“I’m not going to absolve myself from that, but as competitors, yeah, it’s human nature and its competitive nature that you want to do whatever you can to win a game. Nobody wants to be involved in something like this, but this is where we are, and we have to attack it.”
Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 draft, finished with a game-high 41 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 5 assists. He had 37 points in the second half alone.
The Pistons got off to a fast start in the opening quarter, holding a 14-point, double-digit lead for the first time in a contest since Nov. 12 (against the Bulls), but committed six turnovers in the second quarter and entered halftime trailing 61-54.
Cunningham went off for 18 points in the third quarter as the Pistons went down 71-60 at 8:35 after a driving floater by Cam Johnson, but pulled within three entering the fourth. Fans chanted “Let’s go Pistons” during the final frame, trying to rally the home team as Cunningham nailed a trey at 8:10 to put Detroit up 97-92.
But the Nets closed the game on a 26-15 run to etch the 2023-24 Pistons team in the history books.