The Detroit Pistons have widely been considered the worst team in the NBA so far during the 2023-24 season. They entered Sunday with easily the worst record in the league, and earlier set the all-time mark for the most consecutive losses in a single season. It looked like they might finish with the fewest amount of wins of any team ever, but things have gotten at least a little better as the month of January comes to a close.
NBA: Pistons Have Won 3 Of Their Last 7 Games
BREAKING: The Pistons won pic.twitter.com/mm0FumLtXt
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 28, 2024
Back on January 12th, the Pistons were 3-36, losers of 34 of their last 35 games and looking beatable by just about anybody. But they were able to pick up a win against the lowly Wizards on the 15th, and did it without the help of leading scorer Cade Cunningham.
They would go on to lose the next three, but they had a highly successful past week, at least by their standards, that could help them climb out of the NBA basement.
The schedule has certainly helped. The three straight losses came against some of the top teams in the league, but Detroit had two contests against the Wizards and one against the Hornets in the span of twelve days.
They were able to capitalize against Charlotte on Wednesday, winning by 7 behind 34 points from Bojan Bogdanovic. But they fell flat a few nights later in a rematch with Washington, losing to the Wizards with more than a handful of tough games looming on the schedule.
Detroit Takes Down OKC Despite 12.5-Point Spread
The Pistons get their first win against a team over .500 at the halfway point of a season since January 26, 2023.
Detroit beat Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons and the Brooklyn Nets (29-19) on the road, ironically without Cade Cunningham 😳 pic.twitter.com/K70OtkCHvR
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 28, 2024
But against all odds (a 12.5 point spread, to be exact), the worst team in the NBA was able to top one of the best, as the Pistons downed the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, and again without the help of Cunningham. It marked the first win by Detroit over a team with a winning record since January 23rd of last year, making it over a full year since they had accomplished the feat.
After that 3-36 start, the Pistons are now 3-4 over their last seven games, and 2-1 over their last three.
They’ll have to come up with some seriously impressive wins if they want to keep any kind of momentum alive. 11 of their next 15 games will be played on the road, a span in which they’ll take on the Pacers, Suns, Lakers, Kings, Knicks, and each of the Clippers and Cavaliers twice.
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