Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunnigham claims he has never been afraid of playing against any team, despite his side holding on to an unwanted record in the NBA.
The Pistons currently hold the record for the most consecutive losses in a season, having lost their 27th straight game in a 118-112 defeat to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.
Detroit also tied the NBA’s all-time record for most consecutive losses with an overtime 128-122 defeat to the Boston Celtics on Thursday, their 28th straight loss of the season.
However, following their loss to Boston at the TD Garden, Cunningham, a former No. 1 pick, is of the opinion that despite their woes, the Pistons are on the same level as any other franchise in the league.
“We’re on the same level as all these teams we are playing against,” Cunningham said. “There’s no team that I’ve ever come across in the NBA where I felt like I was going into a slaughterhouse. I’ve never felt like that in my life, going into a basketball game.
“So, every game we should be able to fight teams and impose our will on them.
“We did that early on,” he said after their loss to the Celtics. “We kind of let go of the rope a little bit in the third quarter. But there’s a lot of growth, and something we can learn from and definitely take to the next game.”
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The Pistons’ No. 2 finished with a team-high 31 points and 9 assists, scoring 22 points in the first half. He grabbed six rebounds, shot 12 of 22 from the field, and scored four of his six 3-point attempts to go with three steals and two blocks in 43 minutes of action.
The 22-year-old, who is averaging 23.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game this season, reiterated the need for him and his teammates to develop a better understanding so as to put together streaks of victories rather than just securing a win to stop their ongoing debacle.
“I’m not interested in just winning one more game this year — you know what I mean? To stop this. That would be soft, in my opinion,” Cunningham said.
“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, to find our system, find what’s clicking and allow us to sustain winning. That’s all we’re looking for.”
Jaden Ivey finished with a 22-point and 10-rebound double-double; Bojan Bogdanović added 17 points and 12 rebounds; and 20-year-old Jalen Duren poured in 15 points and 14 rebounds as the Pistons fell to 2-29 this season and remain bottom in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Pistons will be hoping to put an end to their disappointing run as well as prevent themselves from becoming the outright owners of the record for the most consecutive losses in NBA history when they welcome the Toronto Raptors to the Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night before going on a four-game road trip.
