Nets deliver Pistons record loss — barely
DETROIT — The Nets consigned the Pistons to a dubious place in infamy, the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history.
And they just barely avoided becoming a footnote, and Detroit’s slumpbuster.
The Nets spotted the woebegone Pistons a double-digit lead in the first quarter Tuesday and trailed in the fourth, before rallying for a 118-112 victory at Little Caesars Arena.
Brooklyn flipped the crowd of 19,811 from chanting “Let’s go Pistons!” in the final period to “Sell the team!” in the waning moments. They handed Detroit a 27th straight defeat, the most ever in a single NBA campaign — and just one off the all-time mark for NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL history.
“We all see it. We ain’t trying to be the one they get their win on, so we’re going to play just as hard,” said Day’Ron Sharpe, who had 11 points, 11 boards and four blocks. “I feel like everybody tunes in to watch them get a win. And it’s not going to be on us.”
No thanks to a 13-0 fourth-quarter run that turned a 97-92 deficit into an eight-point cushion with 4:53 left. The Nets held on from there.
“You have to be real about where we are,” said Detroit coach Monty Williams. “Nobody wants something like this attached to them, and the bottom line is it is my job. Coaches are graded on their records.”
This one will live on like the Four Horsemen: Infamy, ignominy, ineptitude and incompetence.
The all-time mark is 28 straight losses spanning two seasons, held by the Philadelphia 76ers from the end of the 2014-15 campaign and start of 2015-16. That is a record for not just the NBA, but NHL, MLB and NFL as well.
The Nets survived a game-high 41 points from Cade Cunningham. They got 24 from Cam Johnson, and a couple of huge plays late from Dorian FinneySmith. He hit the 3-pointer to cap that decisive run that made it 105-97; then he hit another off a Johnson kickout to make it 115-110 with 38.7 seconds to play.
“They’re gonna win one game so, you know, but yeah, it wasn’t us,” Finney-Smith said. “They’re gonna win one soon, but we’re just trying to get back streaking too you know, we win this one (Wednesday vs. Milwaukee) it’s a good game for us.”
The Nets were clinging to a 90-85 lead after Mikal Bridges (21 points) hit a layup just 40 seconds into the fourth quarter.
They promptly conceded a 12-2 Pistons blitz to lose the momentum and the lead.
Dennis Smith Jr. getting blocked by Cunningham led to ex-Net Bojan Bogdanovic’s go-ahead bucket the other way, and a 91-90 Detroit lead.
Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer made it 94-92, and Cunningham followed with another of his own to put the Nets in a 97-92 hole with 8:10 to play.
The Little Caesars crowd was electrified, but the Nets reeled off a defensively fueled 13-0 blitz to quiet them.
Bridges’ drive against Bogdanovic and kiss high off the glass gave the Nets a 102-97 edge. Spencer Dinwiddie found Finney-Smith in the left corner for a 3-pointer that padded the cushion to eight.
By the time Cunningham broke the drought with 4:36 to play, the Nets had forced six straight misses — and frustrated Bogdanovic into a technical.
It was just 112-110 with 38 seconds left when Johnson drove and passed up what would have been a highly contested layup attempt, kicking out to Finney-Smith for a right-corner 3 that gave the Nets some breathing room.
“Yeah, it’s a huge statement I think because there’s obviously there is outside noise and with guys with social media and being on their phones, they hear it [and] see it. I did in all honesty,” Jacque Vaughn said.
“But I think going into this game we were really concerned about us getting better. And we’ve tried to keep it that simple. I think tonight we got better as a basketball team. Making plays together. Guys stepping up. Figuring things out together. So at the end of the day for us if we keep it that simple, we’ll get rewarded for it.”