Pistons drop 25th straight, one more loss ties record: ‘No way are we that bad’

It felt as if the Detroit Pistons had their best chance to snap their nasty losing streak on Thursday. The game was at home. Against the Utah Jazz, who played (and lost) the night before in Cleveland.

Oh, and the Jaz also didn’t have All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen, out with an illness.

What more could Detroit ask for? Well, apparently a lot, as they still dropped a 119-111 decision. So make it 25 straight defeats — and one more will tie the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers for the record of consecutive losses in a season.

Without a doubt, the Pistons thought this was one they could get.

“I want to be careful with my words, because this one hurts more than most of them,” first-year coach Monty Williams told reporters. “A team that played last night got (50) points off turnovers and rebounds. It is unbelievably hard to understand how we can get outworked in those categories.”

It may be hard to believe, but the Pistons actually had a winning record at one point. They started 2-21. They’re 2-26 today.

“We’re not 2-26 bad — no way are we that bad,” said guard Cade Cunningham, who led the Pistons with 28 points and 10 assists. “I think we can turn this around. We can play a much better brand of basketball.”

Turn it around? That seems like a reach. Play a much better brand of basketball? Now that seems doable. 

But in order to avoid the record, the Pistons will need to find a way to win in Brooklyn on Saturday night. Basically, good luck with all that.

“We had a chance to win it down the stretch, and we just weren’t solid enough,” Cunningham said. “This is history no one wants to be a part of.”