After 17 losses in a row, when will the Detroit Pistons win?

It’s been a long time since Detroit basketball was like this.

Plagued by injuries, inconsistent play and youth, the Pistons have sunk to the bottom of the NBA standings at 2-18, riding a single-season franchise record 17-game losing streak.

On paper, the Pistons are not a bad team. Looking at their numbers on Michigan sportsbooks, the Pistons are 9-11 against the spread this season. PointsBet and BetMGM have markets on every Pistons game starting with their next scheduled game at home against the 5-14 Memphis Grizzlies.

Is that going to be the night Detroit basketball gets a win? The Grizzlies are still without star Ja Morant (suspended for playing with guns for 25 games), and are the worst team on the Pistons upcoming schedule.

Anatomy of a Streak

No one thought the Pistons were NBA title contenders, but they had a proven new coach in Monty Williams, some young core pieces in Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. The Pistons seemed to be a year away from being a year away.

And when Detroit started the season 2-1, hope soared. Then Detroit lost to Oklahoma City on the road by 12. Josh Giddey, who has been in the news lately, had 21 points for the Thunder that night.

Since then it’s been All Ls. 17 losses by an average of 12.1 points. Only a couple of the games have been real blowouts, Detroit lost to the Raptors by 29, the Pacers by 23, and the Lakers by 26.

Reason to Believe

You can look at the NBA stats and no, the Pistons aren’t at the top of any major categories, but they aren’t at the bottom either. Detroit ranks 27th in scoring and 23rd in points given up. Neither the offense or defense is a catastrophe.

Cade Cunningham has had some turnover issues, but he’s been putting the ball in the basket and leads the team with 22.4 points. Bojan Bogdanovic made his season debut Saturday night and scored 22. He can finally give the Pistons some inside-out balance. Rookie Ausar Thompson has played very well.

Williams didn’t suddenly forget how to coach, it’s just that the Pistons haven’t discovered what works for them down the stretch when NBA teams start playing defense on every possession.

The Next Stretch

Bad news for Piston fans is that after the game against the Grizzlies, the schedule isn’t easy. Detroit gets the Magic after Memphis. Orlando just saw its nine-game win streak snapped by the Nets. After that, it’s the Pacers, who are the highest scoring team in the NBA and beat the Pistons 136-113 during this streak.

Then its back-to-back games against Eastern Conference power Philly. The Sixers are 12-7 and handed the Pistons loss No. 7 during this streak.

The Pistons win streak has obscured the fact that in the Western Conference the Spurs have lost 14 in a row. Those teams don’t meet until Jan. 10. Let’s hope someone has won a game by then.

By:Darren Cooper

Born and raised in Louisiana, Darren Cooper has a fond appreciation for bayous, Mardi Gras beads and the sports betting industry. Darren has worked for multiple print and online publications since 1998, primarily as a sports columnist in the Northeast. He’s covered a Super Bowl (it was a blowout), the World Series (same) and the NBA Draft (man, those guys are tall). For the last few years he’s dug deep into the sports gambling industry as it exploded across America, learning how the legal sausage is made and how while all the sportsbooks look the same, they all have different identities and styles. He’s learned to always bet within his means -- and take the under. When not in front of his computer creating, Darren spends time with his three boys. He runs, reads and is always looking for the next big thing to write about.