The Detroit Pistons are the new record-holders for consecutive losses in a single season, dropping their 27th in a row with a 118-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets in front of a supportive Little Caesars Arena crowd.
There’s one thing you can say during that stretch — the Pistons certainly earned it. Through countless mistakes, an inability to hit open shots, and an absolutely anemic bench. It’s been there all season, and it cropped its head again in the defeat to the Nets.
You certainly can’t pin this loss on Cade Cunningham. Cade played every minute of the second half, netting 37 of his game-high 41 points. He was hitting middies, creating for himself off the bounce, and getting into the lane and finishing or forcing a foul call. It was a great Cade game. But it still wasn’t enough.
The Nets were led, somewhat cruelly, by Cam Johnson’s 24 points. Johnson was a prime target in the offseason for a Pistons team looking for a shooting wing with size. Detroit didn’t feel like it could or should compete for the restricted free agent and instead of offering him an exorbitant contact and forcing the Nets to match, they traded for Joe Harris to get a couple extra seconds. The Nets used the open salary cap space to easily re-sign Johnson. Joe Harris was a healthy scratch.