‘Mind-blowing’: Detroit Pistons break most unwanted NBA record with 27th loss in a row

The Detroit Pistons have hit a new low after breaking the NBA’s most unwanted record as their wild losing streak continued.

Cade Cunningham had 41 points but Detroit couldn’t get the win. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images/AFP.

The Detroit Pistons set an NBA record for futility on Wednesday (AEDT), their 118-112 home defeat to the Brooklyn Nets stretching their losing streak to 27, the longest ever in a single season.

Cade Cunningham scored 41 points for the determined Pistons, but it wasn’t enough to give Detroit a first win since October 28.

They surpassed the 26-game losing streaks of the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers.

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The Pistons have only won four of their past 55 games in a dire run stretching back to last season.

Detroit, an iconic franchise that won NBA titles in 1989, 1990 and 2004, are now one defeat away from matching the longest NBA losing streak ever, the 28-game slide of the 76ers that spanned the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.

Cameron Johnson scored 24 points to lead Brooklyn and Mikal Bridges scored 12 of his 21 in the fourth quarter as the Nets thwarted the Pistons.

In a fourth quarter that featured four lead changes, back-to-back three-pointers from Bojan Bogdanovic and Cunningham saw the Pistons take a 97-92 with 8:10 remaining.

Cade Cunningham was on fire but Detroit still couldn’t get the win. Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images/AFP)

But the Nets responded with a 13-0 scoring run to take the lead for good. Cunningham’s driving layup pulled the Pistons within two points with less than a minute to play, but they couldn’t get over the hump.

Cunningham had scored seven points in the space of a minute before Burks took a contested a three-pointer straight out of a Pistons time-out.

Detroit hired coach Monty Williams in the off-season on a monster six year, AUD$114 million deal but the former Phoenix coach has come under fire.

The home crowd crown in Detroit chanted “Sell the team” as the Pistons lost their 27th game in a row.

The funniest part of the Pistons game was when Cade was unconscious and scoring on every possession, then down 5 with 38.5 secs left, the Pistons came out of a timeout and ran a play to get Alec Burks a contested three. 80 million for Monty Williams might have been a whiff high.

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) December 27, 2023

This is just mind-blowing.

Think the worst the Hinkie Sixers got was a 1-40 run at the end of 2014-15 and start of 2015-16. They also had an entirely separate 4-38 run, too, at end of 2013-14 and start of 2014-15.

Pistons are right in the middle of those levels of struggle. https://t.co/jqjs4p394x

— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) December 27, 2023

"Sell the team" chants break out in Detroit 😬 pic.twitter.com/wrld2hpr4y

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 27, 2023

4Q 1:54 - Cade layup, and-1
4Q 1:54 - Cade made FT
4Q 1:28 - Cade layup
4Q :57.2 - Cade layup
---------
4Q :38.0 - Monty Williams timeout
---------
4Q :34.1 - "it's alec burks time" ???pic.twitter.com/Pvrszsbxq6

— Underdog NBA (@Underdog__NBA) December 27, 2023

Bogdanovic scored 23 points, Jalen Duren added 12 points and 15 rebounds and Alec Burks added 15 points off the bench for Detroit.

“It weighs on us every day,” Cunningham said, but added that his message to teammates was one of solidarity.

“We need to continue to lean on each other and continue to push each other and hold each other accountable more than ever now,” he said.

Williams said that he bore the ultimate responsibility for the team’s record, but added that it was a “heavy” load for everyone to carry.

“You have to be real about where we are,” Williams said.

“Nobody wants something like this attached to them … players are playing their hearts out.”

Pistons coach Monty Williams is feeling the heat. Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images/AFP/

Well aware of what was at stake, the Pistons started with plenty of energy, racing to a 9-1.

Duren, sidelined since December 6 with a sprained ankle, returned and immediately made his presence felt, throwing down two dunks and an alley-oop layup off a feed from Cunningham in the first quarter.

Bogdanovic scored 11 in the first period for the Pistons, who led by as many as 14 on the way to a 31-25 lead through one quarter.

By halftime, however, the Nets were up 61-54.

But after Brooklyn stretched their lead to 11 early in the third quarter, the Pistons hit back, a Cunningham jump shot and two free throws from Bogdanovic giving them a 77-76 lead.

Cunningham scored 18 points in the third and 37 in the second half but the crowd of nearly 20,000 went home disappointed again.