Cade Cunningham on 28-Game Losing Streak: Pistons ‘Have What It Takes to Win a Game’

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The Detroit Pistons are getting closer to winning a game, but their historic losing streak continued after a 128-122 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Cade Cunningham expressed optimism that a breakthrough is coming for the team sooner than later:

“That’s what we’re going for, man. I’m not interested in just winning one more game this year, to stop this. That would be soft, in my opinion. I think our goals are a lot higher than that. We have what it takes to win a game. That’s nothing. But to put games together and to find our system, find what’s clicking and allow us to sustain winning … that’s what we’re looking for right now.”

The Pistons entered the game as 17.5-point underdogs against a Celtics team with the NBA’s best record.

Detroit came out ready to bring the fight to Boston. It led by as many as 21 points in the first half and took a 66-47 lead into the break.

The lead was gone by the end of the third quarter when the Celtics outscored the Pistons 35-16. They were able to force overtime when Bojan Bogdanović’s tip-in with 4.1 seconds remaining in regulation tied the game at 108.

Boston eventually pulled away in the overtime period to secure the victory. The Pistons have been competitive in each of the past five losses, with four of them coming by eight points or fewer.

Ultimately, though, all that matters is the Pistons have lost 28 consecutive games and are still trying to get over the hump. They’re now tied with the Philadelphia 76ers, who also dropped 28 straight games across two seasons in 2014-15 and 2015-16, for the longest losing streak in NBA history.

Cunningham is doing all he can to get the Pistons a win. He scored 31 points against the Celtics and is averaging 33 points, 7.4 assists and 5.8 rebounds per contest in the past five games.

Detroit’s next opportunity to end the losing streak is against the Toronto Raptors at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday at Dec. 30.