Cameron Johnson scored 24 points and the visiting Brooklyn Nets beat the Pistons 118-112 on Tuesday night as Detroit set a single-season NBA record with its 27th consecutive loss.
The Pistons tied the record with a 126-115 setback against Brooklyn on Saturday.
Detroit’s 27-game losing streak tops the runs of futility of the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers, who each lost 26 straight.
Philadelphia holds the longest losing streak of all-time, which spanned over the course of two seasons. The 76ers dropped 28 straight between the end of the 2014-15 season and the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign. The Pistons can match that skid when they visit the Boston Celtics on Thursday.
Mikal Bridges had 21 points and Cam Thomas tossed in 17 for Brooklyn on Tuesday. Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe each added 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Cade Cunningham carried the Pistons with 41 points, 37 in the second half. Bojan Bogdanovic had 23 points, Alec Burks added 15 and Jalen Duren chipped in 12 to go along with 15 rebounds.
The Pistons raced to a 22-8 lead just over six minutes into the first quarter, but the Nets pulled within six at 31-25 by the end of the frame.
The Nets later used a 9-0 run to take a 42-38 lead.
Johnson scored Brooklyn’s last five points of the first half as the Nets carried a 61-54 lead into the locker room.
Johnson also scored the first bucket of the third quarter. His next basket, with 8:35 remaining in the third, gave Brooklyn an 11-point advantage.
Detroit then reeled off 11 straight points, with nine coming from Cunningham, to tie it. Johnson stopped that run with a 3-pointer.
Brooklyn’s lead was eight entering the final minute of the third, but the Pistons finished the period with a 7-2 spurt and trailed 88-85 entering the fourth.
Detroit had a 12-2 run early in the fourth to take a 97-92 lead with 8:10 to go.
The Nets then had a 13-0 outburst, including six points from Bridges, to grab an eight-point lead.
Cunningham’s three-point play with 1:54 left cut Brooklyn’s lead to 109-106. Johnson answered with a 3-pointer.
Cunningham made two layups, but Dorian Finney-Smith drained a corner 3 to make it 115-110.
Following a missed 3-point try from Burks, Bridges made two victory-sealing free throws.
–Field Level Media
