LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Detroit Pistons inched closer to National Basketball Association ignominy on as they dropped a 111-119 decision to the Utah Jazz on their home floor for a 25th straight defeat.
The Pistons are now one loss away from matching the NBA’s longest single-season losing streak of 26 games — by the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-2014 Philadelphia 76ers.
The longest losing streak ever was the 28-game slide of the 76ers that spanned the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons.
“That’s history that nobody wants to be a part of,” dejected Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham said.
Utah, playing the second night of a back to back without Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson and Talen Horton-Tucker, had looked to offer the Pistons a golden opportunity to halt the slide.
But after a bright start that saw Detroit lead by as many as eight points in the first quarter, the Jazz turned the tide with a 13-0 scoring run that saw them take a 45-32 lead early in the second period.
Trailing 64-58 at halftime, the Pistons tied it up at 84-84 in the third quarter before the Jazz pulled away again.
Kelly Olynyk led the Jazz with 27 points. Collin Sexton added 19, Ochai Agbaji scored 18 off the bench as six Jazz players scored in double figures.
Cunningham scored 28 points and handed out 10 assists for the Pistons.
Shooting guard Jaden Ivey scored 24 and Marvin Bagley III another 22 for Detroit, but no other Pistons players reached double figures as the Pistons — an iconic franchise that won NBA titles in 1989, 1990 and 2004 — remained without a win since 28 October.
“I am sick right now,” said Cunningham, who was coming off a 43-point performance in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
