The last time the Detroit Pistons tasted victory, trick-or-treaters hadn’t even collected their candy.
They’ve endured a stomach-churning 17 consecutive losses, a franchise record for a single season. Their last win came Oct. 28.
They’ll try once again to end their misery when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
It’s one of two games recently scheduled by the NBA for every team that didn’t advance during the in-season tournament.
The Pistons suffered another agonizing home defeat on Saturday. They were down by only three points to Cleveland with four minutes to go but went scoreless until the last 35 seconds of a 110-101 loss.
One very positive development was the return of Bojan Bogdanovic, last season’s top scorer. Bogdanovic made his season debut after recovering from a calf strain and scored 22 points.
“I just love having him out there on the floor,” coach Monty Williams said. “His energy, his feel for the game, his ability to draw fouls, talking on the floor — that’s something we certainly need.”
Bogdanovic’s perimeter threat eases some of the burden on Cade Cunningham, who had 23 points and 11 assists against the Cavs. Cunningham is averaging 22.4 points and 7.3 assists but also a league-high 4.4 turnovers.
Cunningham had only one turnover on Saturday, but Detroit still committed 16, which led to 21 Cleveland points.
“Overall, we still had some timely turnovers and some possessions that didn’t look that great, where we couldn’t execute and get a shot,” Williams said. “That certainly hurt us. Look at the points we gave them on turnovers. You look at our defense (Saturday), I thought our defense was pretty good. The points we gave them off turnovers really hurt us.”
The Grizzlies put together consecutive wins for the first time this season last week, defeating Utah and Dallas. In their most recent game on Saturday, they lost to Phoenix 116-109.
Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane have carried the load in recent games.
Jackson had 20 points, six rebounds and six blocks against the Jazz. He bounced back from a foul-plagued outing against the Mavs by racking up 37 points and nine rebounds against the Suns.
“Really impressed with him just playing with force, physicality, getting angles on guys one-on-one, touch finishing ability — it’s always been there,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “Just really impressed with the work that he’s been putting in on that end of the floor.”
Jackson did most of his damage inside, battling Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic.
“He’s strong as an ox,” Jackson said. “It’s always a battle. It was all angles, figuring out how to score. Just driving — that’s all I had going for me.”
Bane averaged 28.5 points and 5.0 assists the past two games.
The banged-up Grizzlies announced Monday they had signed Jaylen Nowell to a second 10-day contract using the hardship exception. Memphis has seven players sidelined by injuries, and star guard Ja Morant is still serving a 25-game suspension.
Nowell has played an average of 30 minutes over the past two games.
The Grizzlies and Pistons will play their two regularly scheduled games in April.
–Field Level Media
