The Detroit Pistons moved into the top 10 all-time list for NBA losing streaks following their 20th successive defeat last night.
Detroit were beaten 131-123 by the Indiana Pacers despite 23 points from Cade Cunningham and 20 from Ausar Thompson.
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It’s the longest single-season slump in franchise history, just six shy of the record of 26 held by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2013-14.
Philadelphia also hold the record for the longest winless run across two seasons when they lost 28 successive games from the end of the 2015-16 campaign and into 2016-17.
Despite their latest setback, Pistons coach Monty Williams saw signs for optimism.
He said: “As much as this losing hurts us, and it hurts like you can’t believe, I see a lot of growth.
“I’m encouraged by some of the things we saw tonight. We just need to build on them.
“I thought the way we closed to half-time was something that kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit.
“We’re still learning that everything we do in the meat of the game has an effect on the end.”
Detroit Pistons update:
20 game losing streak pic.twitter.com/aNXcjgeauT
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 12, 2023
Bennedict Mathurin scored 30 points for the Pacers who were coming off Saturday’s defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers in the final of the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas.
“This is one of the most difficult games you can have, coming off the emotions of last week, the game on Saturday, the travel and everything else,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
“I just thought our guys did a great job of staying together, keeping their composure and their aggression.
“Detroit is in an all-out attack mode because of their situation.”
