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27 losses in a row: Bojan Bogdanovic (left) of the Detroit Pistons
Photograph:
Duane Burleson/AP
The Detroit Pistons have set a negative record in the professional basketball league NBA. The Michigan team lost 112-118 to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night. It was the 27th loss in a row - no NBA team had ever conceded such a negative streak in a single season. In the regular season, the teams in the NBA play 82 games – a third of which the Pistons have now lost in a row.
"It's ridiculous," commented the newspaper "The Detroit News" after the record bankruptcy of the Nets. The crowd at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit chanted, "Sell the team."
Even top scorer Cade Cunningham's 41 points were not enough to celebrate the first win since October 29 and only the third win of the season. Detroit, which won the NBA title in 1989, 1990 and 2004, surpassed the Cleveland Cavaliers (2010/2011) and the Philadelphia 76ers (2013/2014). The two teams had a similar horror streak with 26 defeats in a row in a season.
Coach Williams defends the players
"It weighs on us every day," Cunningham said, but we need to continue to "spur each other on" and "hold each other accountable, more than ever."
"Nobody wants something like that to be associated with him," Pistons coach Monty Williams said. "It's probably more down to me than anything else. The players are doing their best, I have to put them in a position where they don't feel cramped or heavy. But that's the way it is, that's the reality."
The Pistons are in last place in the Eastern Conference. Detroit is one loss away from the Philadelphia 76ers' record – the 76ers had lost 28 games in a row, albeit across seasons in the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons. On Friday night, Detroit will face the Boston Celtics – currently the best team in the Eastern Conference.
krä/sid/dpa