Pistons

Pistons drop 25th straight to move within loss of tying NBA single-season record

DETROIT (AP) — Kelly Olynyk scored 25 points and the short-handed Utah Jazz beat Detroit 119-111 on Thursday night for the Pistons’ 25th straight loss — one short of the NBA single season record.

The 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers share the record at 26. The 76ers hold the overall mark at 28, a skid that started in the 2014-15 season and carried over into 2015-16.

“I want to be careful with my words, because this one hurts more than most of them,” first-year coach Monty Williams said. “A team that played last night got (50) points off turnovers and rebounds. It is unbelievably hard to understand how we can get outworked in those categories.”

The Pistons fell to 2-26, with the crowd chanting “Sell the team! Sell the team!” at the end in a loud statement to owner Tom Gores and his Platinum Equity firm. Detroit will be back in action Saturday night in Brooklyn.

“We’re not 2-26 bad — no way are we that bad,” said Cade Cunningham, who led Detroit with 28 points and 10 assists. “I think we can turn this around. We can play a much better brand of basketball.”

Utah played without four of its top seven scorers — Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Keyonte George and Talen Horton-Tucker — on the second night of a back-to-back after losing at Cleveland on Wednesday.

“That’s a really, really good team win for us,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “That’s a hard game to play — second night of a back-to-back on the road with a bunch of guys out.”

Collin Sexton added 19 points for the Jazz Utah, and Ochai Agbaji had 18. Jaden Ivey added 24 points for Detroit, and Marvin Bagley III had 22, but no one else had more than eight.

Utah led 90-88 going into the fourth quarter and took advantage of Detroit’s poor shooting to increase make it 100-93 with 7:40 to play.

The Pistons missed their first six 3-point attempts of the fourth, but Bojan Bogdanovic hit one to make it 104-100 with 4:40 left. Olynyk’s 3-pointer against his former team put the Jazz up seven and Sexton’s tip-in made it 115-106 with 1:37 to play.

“Rebounding is something we’ve emphasized all season, and it is definitely part of our identity on the offensive side of the ball,” Hardy said after his team finished with 15 offensive rebounds.

Sexton added two free throws to make it an 11-point game.

The Pistons were 1 for 10 on 3s in the fourth qyarter.

“We had a chance to win it down the stretch, and we just weren’t solid enough,” Cunningham said. “This is history no one wants to be a part of.”

https://www.toprevenuegate.com/j13khjqx?key=7c37029a116a1a1eb73b68726364d948 Cade Cunningham struggles mightily to accept Pistons' slump -- 'No way'

To say the  Detroit Pistons have been struggling this season would be a severe understatement. The Pistons current losing streak just hit 24 games and they're officially one game away from tying the longest losing streak in NBA history that was set by both the 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers and the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers. Their most recent loss came against a severely depleted Utah Jazz team after which Pistons wing Cade Cunningham 

was in disbelief as per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports.

The Pistons actually started out the season at 2-1, but everything has gone south since then. While Cade Cunningham has been having a career year for the Pistons, it seemingly hasn't been enough to stop this losing streak. Whatever the reason may be, the Pistons have just been a futile team.

When it comes to Cunningham, he's been averaging a career high 22.2 points per game, 3.9 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.0 steals with splits of 43.4 percent shooting from the field, 32.5 percent shooting from the three point line and 88.1 percent shooting from the free throw line.

Pistons suffer 25th straight loss, hear chants of 'sell the team'

DETROIT -- Kelly Olynyk scored 25 points and the short-handed Utah Jazz beat Detroit 119-111 on Thursday night for the Pistons' 25th straight loss, one short of the NBA single-season record.

The 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013-14  Philadelphia 76ers share the record at 26. The 76ers hold the overall mark at 28, a skid that started in the 2014-15 season and carried over into 2015-16.

"I want to be careful with my words, because this one hurts more than most of them," first-year coach Monty Williams said. "A team that played last night got (50) points off turnovers and rebounds. It is unbelievably hard to understand how we can get outworked in those categories."

The Pistons fell to 2-26, with the crowd chanting "Sell the team! Sell the team!" at the end in a loud statement to owner Tom Gores and his Platinum Equity firm. Detroit will be back in action Saturday night in Brooklyn.

"We're not 2-26 bad -- no way are we that bad," said Cade Cunningham, who led Detroit with 28 points and 10 assists. "I think we can turn this around. We can play a much better brand of basketball."

Utah played without four of its top seven scorers -- Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Keyonte George and  Talen Horton-Tucker -- on the second night of a back-to-back after losing at Cleveland on Wednesday.

"That's a really, really good team win for us," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "That's a hard game to play -- second night of a back-to-back on the road with a bunch of guys out."

Collin Sexton added 19 points for the Jazz Utah, and  Ochai Agbaji had 18. Jaden Ivey added 24 points for Detroit, and Marvin Bagley III had 22, but no one else had more than eight.

Utah led 90-88 going into the fourth quarter and took advantage of Detroit's poor shooting to increase make it 100-93 with 7:40 to play.

The Pistons missed their first six 3-point attempts of the fourth, but Bojan Bogdanovic hit one to make it 104-100 with 4:40 left. Olynyk's 3-pointer against his former team put the Jazz up seven and Sexton's tip-in made it 115-106 with 1:37 to play.

"Rebounding is something we've emphasized all season, and it is definitely part of our identity on the offensive side of the ball," Hardy said after his team finished with 15 offensive rebounds.

Sexton added two free throws to make it an 11-point game.

The Pistons were 1-for-10 on 3s in the fourth quarter.

"We had a chance to win it down the stretch, and we just weren't solid enough," Cunningham said. "This is history no one wants to be a part of."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Fans gather to mourn, roast Pistons' latest failure to end losing streak vs Jazz

The Detroit Pistons are trying their hardest to get a third entry into the win column way past a quarter into the season. Cade Cunningham and the  Monty Williams-led squad had the perfect opportunity to do so against the Utah Jazz. There was no Jordan Clarkson, Keyonte George, and Lauri Markkanen. But, there was someone named Kelly Olynyk and he did not allow them to get a victory.The Pistons just suffered their 26th loss of the season. Monty Williams was tasked to reinvigorate this squad from the depths. Although, it seems like they continue to flunk down basketball hell. Even fans could not keep their emotions to themselves after a tough outing by their team.

“People don't even place 25 bets and lose all 25 in a row…The Pistons are on a horrible streak,” and “Pistons going to lose like 40 games before the all-star break,” were just some sentiments thrown around once the final buzzer sounded.

Moreover, some fans had to make fun of the fact that it was a certain Jazz player who buried Cade Cunningham's squad, “Pistons let Kelly Olynyk go for 27. This might really be the worst team of all time.”

Meanwhile, others were more straightforward with their wishes after seeing the squad play, “demote the Detroit Pistons to the CBA.”

There will be a lot of recalibration after they have lost their 25th straight game. Furthermore, it has been a while since this team has made it back to contender status. Hopefully, a mid-season turnaround happens. This is such that they do not get remembered as one of the worst teams in league history.

Detroit Pistons legend announced as first-time nominee for Hall of Fame

Katie Bailey | MLive.com Bill Laimbeer, left, and Earl Cureton, former Detroit Pistons players, greet friends and talk to media at the Bad Boys Unite charity event at Detroit's Westin Book Cadillac Hotel, Thursday, March 27, 2014. The event marks the 25th anniversary of the Pistons winning two NBA championships back-to-back and raised money for six local non-profit organizations. MLive.comMLive.com

Bill Laimbeer is one of the baddest players ever to wear a Detroit Pistons jersey. Everyone in Detroit knows it, and now it appears the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame knows it too. On Thursday, the Hall released its list of eligible candidates for the 2024 Class, and for the first time ever, Laimbeer is listed as one of the nominees up for consideration as a player.

Also nominated for consideration is Cheryl Ford, one of Laimbeer’s players during his time as coach of the Detroit Shock, former Pistons legend and current Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, former Michigan basketball coach John Beilein and Michigan State alumnus and Pistons TV announcer Greg Kelser.

During Laimbeer’s 14-year basketball career, 12 were spent in the being the “enforcer” for the Pistons after he was traded to Detroit from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1982. As part of the “Bad Boys” era of the franchise, Laimbeer was instrumental in the Pistons’ success during 1980s and early 90s.

In addition to being a four-time NBA All-Star and leading the NBA in rebounds (1986), Laimbeer was an integral part of the Pistons going to three straight NBA Finals (1988-1990), winning two of them against the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers, respectively.

With the Pistons, Laimbeer averaged 13.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and nearly a block per game. He holds the most rebounds in the franchise’s history at 9,430 and is fifth all-time in total points with 12,665.

Once Laimbeer’s playing days were done, he turned to coaching, where he enjoyed near-immediate success. During the middle of the 2002 WNBA season, Laimbeer took over the reins as head coach of the Detroit Shock. After finishing 9-13 that season, Laimbeer coached the Shock to a 25-9 season that ended with him winning WNBA Coach of the Year honors and the franchise winning its first WNBA title.

Laimbeer would eventually guide the Shock to two more WNBA Championships (2006 and 2008) before stepping down as coach in 2009. As coach of the Shock, Laimbeer’s record was 137-93.

After leaving the Shock, Laimbeer went on to have a two-year stint as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves before returning to the WNBA to coach the New York Liberty, where he earned another Coach of the Year honor (2015), and the Las Vegas Aces, whom he guided to three straight conference finals and one WNBA Finals appearance.

Among Laimbeer’s first-time nominees for this year’s Hall of Fame class are Vince Carter, Mike Fratello, Penny Taylor, Rick Barnes, Seimone Augustus, and the 2008 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team (“Redeem Team”).

On Feb. 16, 2024, finalists from the Honor’s Committee for the Class of 2024 will be announced in Indianapolis, Ind., during NBA All-Star Weekend. The entire Class of 2024 will be unveiled during the NCAA Final Four in Phoenix, Ariz., on Saturday, April 6.