The Brooklyn Nets eased past the Detroit Pistons in a 126-115 victory that meant that Monty Williams’s side had equaled the NBA record for most successive losses in a season. The defeat was their 26th on the bounce and came with Nets star Mikal Bridges scoring 29 points.
The win was the first for the Nets after a run of five losses and left the Barclays Center side on 14-15 for the season. Brooklyn fans who feel that Sean Marks will steer his side in the right direction and into the playoffs can make the most of what’s on offer from the best NJ online sportsbooks, as selecting the right provider will greatly improve your potential payout.
Things at the Brooklyn Nets are remarkably calm right now and a world away from the clamor that was evident during the topsy-turvy and unsuccessful period when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were on board.
Clearly, a lot was expected of the team during that spell, and now head coach Sean Marks continues to push the team to where they expect to be, namely challenging for a first-ever NBA title, something that admittedly seems a world away right now.
If tangible success at the Nets still appears a big ask, they are at least not in the same place as a Detroit Pistons side that lurches from one poor season to the next. Monty Williams was brought in to arrest the slide but he has failed to do so and in a particularly spectacular way.
The Pistons are now 2-27, and any attempts to salvage anything from the long NBA season, even a sense of pride, seem next to impossible. Comments from their leading players certainly reflect that state of mind.
Guard Cade Cunningham said after the loss to the Nets,
“Everybody wants to win, everybody hates losing, so it’s hard,”
“We’ve got to be realistic as well. Can’t just keep saying the same things over and over, like we’ll get the next one. There has to be like a plan of action, so we’re just trying to figure that out.”
Center Isaiah Stewart added,
“None of us went through this, ever,”
“This is the hardest thing probably all of us went through, especially being in the pros.”
While the NBA season is a long one, there is simply no way the Pistons can achieve anything of note now, and they may well have to settle for not becoming the seventh NBA side to lose 70 or more games.
The Pistons’ worst season in that regard came in 1979-80 when they lost 66 times, and that should be something of a benchmark for Williams and his team, and even that may prove a bridge too far if recent form is any guide.
On his team’s efforts so far, Williams commented,
“Everybody feels down when you lose and you’ve lost this many in a row. You have to allow people to be human,” Williams said.