Pistons’ embarrassing turnover in loss to Rockets highlights ineptitude of 1-35 stretch

Just when you thought the Detroit Pistons‘ season couldn’t get any worse, along came Friday night. They suffered a complete collapse down the stretch in the fourth quarter en route to a 112-110 defeat to the Houston Rockets that ran their new losing streak to seven games and extended a dismal 1-35 stretch. 

Along the way, they delivered one of the most embarrassing plays of the season, which encapsulated their ineptitude. A level of ineptitude that has characterized their 2023-24 campaign from the start.   

Just a few minutes into the game, Rockets big man Alperen Sengun knocked down a free throw to complete an and-one. The Pistons then somehow messed up the ensuing inbounds in comical fashion. Killian Hayes grabbed the ball and inbounded it to Isaiah Stewart, who apparently didn’t realize that the play was now live. Stewart then went to inbound it himself, and in the process both traveled and stepped out of bounds. 

The Pistons’ announcers couldn’t believe it. “Oh my goodness. You want to talk about an unforced error? The Pistons just committed one.” 

Neither could the coaching staff. Just look at their reaction here:

Mistakes happen, but they shouldn’t happen as often as they do in Detroit. That was one of 13 turnovers on the night for the Pistons, who rank 29th in the league in turnover percentage at 15.8. That issue would crop up again late in the fourth quarter, as their lead melted away. After a Jalen Duren bucket put them up 107-102 with 3:54 remaining, the Pistons scored just three points the rest of the way, in part because of two bad turnovers. 

With the loss, the Pistons have now dropped seven games in a row since their win over the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 30. There have been seven losing streaks of at least seven games this season in the NBA. The Pistons have two of them, including a historic 28-game skid. Since the start of that one, they are 1-35 in their last 36 games, and for the season they are 3-36. 

Their .077 winning percentage has them on pace for six wins, which would be the fewest of all-time, even worse than the 7-59 Charlotte Bobcats in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. The worst record in an 82-game season belongs to the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers, who went 9-73.