The Pistons Show Fight in Record-Tying Loss to Celtics

Detroit has lost a daunting 28 straight games, but perhaps the team’s struggles will eventually pay off.

It was supposed to be embarrassing. Humiliating. Thursday night’s Boston Celtics–Detroit Pistons game featured two teams from the same conference but practically speaking, were in two different leagues. Boston was the NBA’s best team. Detroit had not won in two months. The Celtics were coming off an impressive 3–1 West Coast road trip. The Pistons entered the game riding a 27-game losing streak.

“It’s an NBA game, they’re NBA players, they’re healthy, they’re playing really hard,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said before the game, adding, “and they’ve been in a lot of games.”

Hardly a ringing endorsement.

Yet something happened on the way to Detroit’s NBA record-tying 28th straight defeat. The Pistons showed fight. There were signs of it Tuesday when Detroit hung in for three-plus quarters before eventually falling to the Nets. On Thursday, the Pistons came to play. They built an 11-point lead in the first quarter. It was 21 in the second. At halftime, Detroit led by 19 and Boston was being booed on its home floor.

“You might think it's gonna be easy [against them],” said Jayson Tatum. “But then they come out and punch you in the mouth and you gotta regroup.”

In the third, the Celtics did. A 10–4 run started the quarter. Timeout, Detroit. A 19–7 run followed. Another timeout. The Pistons' flaws—bad passes, sloppy turnovers, poor shot selection—were exposed. By the end of the third, Detroit’s lead had evaporated and the NBA’s best home offense was humming.

In the fourth, Detroit’s fight returned. They traded buckets with the Celtics. Midway through the quarter, the Pistons held a four-point lead. With eight seconds left, Cunningham was called for goaltending on a Tatum layup. On Detroit’s next possession, Cunningham missed a three. But Bojan Bogdanović was there for the rebound, flipping it in off the glass in one motion. A missed jumper from Tatum sent the game to overtime.

The overtime was less dramatic. Boston’s defense tightened, Derrick White (10 points) took over and the Pistons slumped off the TD Garden floor with a historic losing streak one game longer.

“I hurt for them,” said Pistons coach Monty Williams. “We feel like we are getting so close to not just winning one game, but lots of games.”

Cunningham is averaging 23.3 points and 7.1 assists per game for the Pistons this season :: Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports

There’s nothing good about a 28-game losing streak. It’s defeating. Demoralizing. For the young players—and that’s pretty much the entire Pistons roster—there can be lingering effects. But if Thursday night proved anything it’s that Detroit has not quit. Pistons-Celtics had nine lead changes. The game was tied nine times. Detroit pulverized Boston on the glass (57–43) and clawed out 31 second-chance points.

“I think it shows we’re on the same level of all the teams we’re playing against,” said Cade Cunningham. “There’s no team I’ve ever come across where I felt like I was going into a slaughterhouse. I’ve never felt like that in my life going into a basketball game…there’s a lot of growth in tonight, some things we can learn from and definitely take into the next game.”

The Pistons need changes—big ones. Owner Tom Gores, speaking with local reporters before Christmas, admitted as much. Detroit is young. Too young. They are a more functional version of the 2022-23 Rockets, a team rich in young talent but lacking the veterans needed to lead it. On the NBATV pregame show ex-Pistons star Grant Hill talked about a lack of institutional knowledge. In his early years, Hill said, he had Joe Dumars, Otis Thorpe and Mark West guiding him. These Pistons don’t have that.

Troy Weaver bears the blame for that. Gores could fire him. Eventually, he probably will. Weaver’s chances of retaining his position atop basketball operations this summer sit somewhere between the Pistons making the playoffs and striking oil in Vermont. But firing Weaver now would make little difference. Weaver isn’t in the trenches with the team, Williams is, and if you think Gores is going to eat the balance of Williams’s six-year, $78 million contract, you’re dreaming. There are no write-offs. This isn’t Batgirl.

The Pistons just have to keep plugging. Williams could be right. One win could lead to a few of them. Before the opening tip, NBC Sports Boston analyst Brian Scalabrine, an ex-NBA forward, wondered how it was possible a team with the talent of the Pistons could lose 27 in a row. Cunningham, who scored 31 points against the Celtics, is a star. Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson are legit. They should be bad, yes. But they shouldn’t be this bad.

“I’m not interested in winning one more game this year to stop this,” said Cunningham. “That would be soft, in my opinion. Our goals are a lot higher than that. We have what it takes to win a game. That’s nothing. To put games together, to find our system, to find what’s clicking and allow us to sustain winning, that’s what we’re looking for.”

On Saturday, the Pistons will host Toronto. After that, it’s four games on the road. Detroit believes better days are ahead of them. In the locker room after the game, Williams told his team that it takes a lot of character to do what they have been doing. “They’ve heard all the stuff about our team and they just keep bringing it,” Williams said.

It will eventually pay off. It has to.

Doesn’t it?