The Detroit Pistons own many of the NBA’s longest losing streaks against a single team. But after this week, they have two fewer.
Wednesday night, the Pistons defeated the Boston Celtics, 117-97, for their eighth straight victory. It’s the longest winning streak by a Pistons team since February 2008, when the team was still led by Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace.
While stretching out their winning streak, the Pistons broke a 12-game losing streak against the Celtics, which was the NBA’s third-longest active streak against a single opponent. Monday night, Detroit broke a 10-game losing streak against the Los Angeles Clippers, a team they hadn’t beaten since Jan. 2018.
The Pistons haven’t been maintaining their streak with cheap victories, either. They’ve won by an average of 16.3 points in the last eight games, including a 20-point margin of victory Wednesday.
Cade Cunningham scored 21 points and delivered 11 assists. He’s averaging 9.9 assists and 25.6 points during the streak. Malik Beasley scored 26 points off the bench and made six three-pointers. He’s averaging 19.5 points in Detroit’s last games, starting only one of them.
Detroit is also getting incredible rebounding from Jalen Duren, who grabbed 13 boards to go with his 13 points. He’s had double-digit rebounds in eight of his last nine games, and he’s grabbing a stunning four offensive rebounds per game during February.
The big difference is the Pistons’ newfound depth. Beasley provides scoring off the bench, while Isaiah Stewart delivers excellent rebounding and defense. 24-year-old Marcus Sasser has become a net positive on defense, as has rookie Ron Holland. Against Boston’s excellent bench, Detroit’s reserves were a big advantage.
Detroit still holds long losing streaks against a few teams. They’ve lost 12 straight games to the Cleveland Cavaliers and 11 in a row to the Milwaukee Bucks. They won’t face the Cavs again this season unless the two meet in the playoffs, but the Pistons will finish the season with two games against Milwaukee.
With the two teams even in the Eastern Conference standings, there might be home-court advantage at stake, not simply a streak. But the Pistons are improving quickly. They also have a 14-game playoff losing streak. If they keep playing like this, that will be the next streak to fall.
