Detroit Pistons head coach Monty Williams watches his players in the course of the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
BOSTON— Detroit coach Monty Williams has believed it for some time, and now he has proof: The Pistons can compete with anybody within the NBA.
And, he can only hope, the wins will come soon enough.
The Pistons opened a 21-point lead over the league-best Celtics on Thursday night, forcing extra time before Boston pulled out a 128-122 victory and sent Detroit to an NBA record-tying twenty eighth loss in a row.
“As bad as they hurt straight away, I hurt for them,” Williams said. “But I told them: `If we bring that form of toughness and execution — minus the turnovers — we’re not only going to win one game. We’re going to place something together.’”
It was the primary time all season the Pistons led by greater than 20 points, and the primary time that they had gotten to extra time within the two months since their last win. Detroit has also lost to Miami by one point, Milwaukee by two and defending champion Denver by 4 points this season.
“We’re on the identical level as all these teams were playing against,” said Detroit guard Cade Cunningham, who had 31 points and nine assists but missed a possible winning 3-pointer at the tip of regulation.
“There’s no team that I’ve ever come across within the NBA where I felt like I used to be going right into a slaughterhouse. I’ve never felt like that in my life, going right into a basketball game,” he said. “So every game we should always give you the option to fight teams and impose our will on them. We did that early on. We form of let go of the rope slightly bit within the third quarter. But there’s loads of growth, and something we will learn from and definitely take to the following game.”
Detroit fell to 2-29 and matched the “Trust the Process” Philadelphia 76ers with the 28 consecutive losses; the Pistons need a victory at home against Toronto on Saturday night to avoid breaking the NBA record for longest losing streak.
In major North American sports, only the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals, who lost 29 straight from 1942-45, have had an extended losing streak.
“I’m not focused on just winning yet another game this 12 months — you realize what I mean? To stop this. That will be soft, in my view,” Cunningham said. “Our goals are so much higher than that. Now we have what it takes to win a game, that’s nothing. But to place games together, to search out our system, find what’s clicking and permit us to sustain winning. That’s all we’re in search of.”
Kristaps Porzingis had eight of his season-high 35 points in a 10-0 run that turned a four-point deficit right into a 106-100 Boston lead in the ultimate two minutes of regulation. Jaden Ivey scored six straight points for Detroit to tie it.
Then, after Jayson Tatum was credited with a layup on a replay-confirmed goaltending call, Bojan Bogdanovic made a putback on Cunningham’s missed 3 to send it to OT.
Derrick White scored 10 of his 23 points in the additional period and Porzingis had six within the extra time — dunking after a full-court pass from Tatum after which sinking a pair of free throws to make it 125-117.
Tatum had 31 points and 10 assists for Boston, which won its fourth straight and its ninth within the last 10 games. The Celtics, who were without Jaylen Brown, are 15-0 at home this season and have the league’s best record, 24-6.
The Pistons set the NBA record for many consecutive losses in a season Tuesday night with their twenty seventh in a row, a 118-112 loss to Brooklyn. The Sixers’ streak stretched over two seasons, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
“I’m unbelievably happy with the group, the best way they create it,” Williams said. “They’ve heard all of the stuff about our team and so they just keep bringing it. I understand it’s going to repay.”
