DETROIT – Exactly 40 years ago, on Dec. 13, 1983, the Detroit Pistons set a franchise record by scoring 186 points in a single game. On Dec. 13, 2023, the team tied another franchise record by losing its 21st consecutive game.
This time, the Philadelphia 76ers came into town and rolled over the listless Pistons, 129-111, as the 76ers’ All-NBA center Joel Embiid posted a game-high 41 points and 11 rebounds, while dishing out five assists in just 31 minutes of action. The Pistons fell to a league-worst 2-22, while the 76ers and their high-scoring offense are now 16-7 on the season.
The Pistons couldn’t stop Embiid from the beginning, with undersized starting center Isaiah Stewart taking on the assignment of trying to slow down the 7’1” big man. Embiid was fouled 10 times in the first quarter alone and finished the opening period with 19 points and eight rebounds.
After a hot start from ex-Pistons forward Tobias Harris put Philadelphia ahead 14-6 just three minutes into the game, Detroit rallied back with a 9-2 run behind two James Wiseman dunks assisted by Cade Cunningham, and five quick points from starting forward Bojan Bogdanovic.
Embiid began his squad’s response to the Pistons’ run, and by the end of the first quarter, he and Harris combined for as many points (26) and one more rebound (10) as the entire Detroit team en route to a 39-26 Philly lead after one.
The 76ers continued to pull away, taking a 70-56 halftime lead. At that point, the writing was on the wall for the league’s second-youngest team – a team that hasn’t bounced back to win all season after trailing at halftime. At one point in the second half, Philly stretched the lead to as much as 30 points before pulling its starters and getting some minutes from key reserves and other contributors.
Bogdanovic led all Pistons scorers with 33 points in 33 minutes, knocking down five of his nine three-point attempts. Cunningham chipped in with 21 points, seven assists, and five rebounds, and Wiseman finished with 10 points and three rebounds before fouling out in just 16 minutes of action.
After the game, Pistons head coach Monty Williams said that despite the historic skid, his job remains to gameplan effectively and to keep the team in a good space mentally.
“You’re not going to be happy in this situation. I don’t want anyone happy, but you can still have a competitive edge and spirit,” Williams said.
“I want to see an ornery locker room that’s tired of not just losing, but tired of missing shots, tired of giving up 39-point quarters, and things like that. Nobody’s happy about this, but we still have a good spirit because we have great guys that are trying their tails off, and it’s my job to keep that spirit at a good level.”
A big part of tonight’s loss, Williams said, was the glaring free throw disparity the Pistons faced. Embiid was 9-for-9 on free throws in the first quarter alone, and was fouled 10 times within the first 12 minutes. Both starting center Isaiah Stewart and backup center James Wiseman had two first-quarter fouls, which made it difficult to defend against the all-everything big as he essentially scored in every way he wanted throughout the night.
“Foul trouble… At one point it was 15-1 free throws. [Embiid’s] ability to just punish people in the paint is probably the biggest part of the story. He just punishes people down there,” Williams said.
Wiseman echoed Williams, saying that his assignment on Embiid was tough, especially considering his own limited playing time this season and Embiid’s size and strength.
“It was hard, but we tried our best to contain him. I took on the challenge and tried to contain him, so, I mean I didn’t back down from him,” Wiseman said.
Detroit’s current 21-game losing streak is the longest in a single season in franchise history, and it ties the longest all-time streak in franchise history (spanning two seasons) when the team also lost 21 straight from March 3-Oct. 22, 1980.
Wiseman said the team needs to buckle down and stay the course without abandoning the process of hard work and trying to become a better team all around.
“We just gotta just keep on going to practice, working hard every day, and just trying to figure it out,” he said. “We’re a young squad. We’re a young team. So it’s going to be difficult, but we just gotta keep going, keep working every day. It’s not gonna be easy, I mean this is the NBA, so it’s not going to be easy.”
With the Pistons set to play their next game in Philadelphia on Friday, Dec. 15, for the second of back-to-back matchups with the 76ers, the underlying story is Isaiah Stewart. The Pistons’ starting center was called for a flagrant 2 foul against Philly’s pesky guard Patrick Beverly, and was subsequently ejected with :06 remaining in the third quarter. On the play prior, Beverly gave Stewart an elbow to the ribs, and Stewart retaliated with a solid screen where he extended his arm, causing Beverly to fall to the floor.
Beverly hopped up and began clapping and screaming loudly in the direction of fans and the Pistons bench, and Stewart exchanged words with other 76ers before the referees reviewed the play and determined that Stewart should be ejected.
Williams didn’t call Beverly out specifically, but questioned the validity of the call and alluded to the fact that the Pistons have to be smarter about being baited into calls like that from players with a history of exaggerating for calls.
“You’ve got to be more poised and show a level of experience in that situation,” Williams said of Stewart’s ejection.
Wiseman added: “Isaiah, he’s gonna be fine. That’s not going to roll over into the game. We’re gonna come back with better energy and we’re gonna execute better on both ends of the floor. We’re just gonna have a better game next game.”
The Pistons are trying to avoid the NBA record of 26 straight losses in a season, but will have a difficult time, with its next six games against the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz, and back-to-back contests against the Brooklyn Nets.
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