Raptors become THAT team to snap Pistons' historic losing streak

The Toronto Raptors will forever find themselves in the NBA history books — and not for good reason.

On Saturday, the Raptors became the first team to lose to the Detroit Pistons since the Chicago Bulls on October 28, with their opponents riding an NBA record 28-straight losses coming into the contest.

The final score of the historic contest was 129-127 in favour of Detroit.

Trailing 52-44 at halftime, Toronto’s comeback attempt was ill-fated.

Detroit had already set the single-season record for most consecutive losses in an NBA regular season, while equalling the total of 28 set by the Philadelphia 76ers across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns.

THE STREAK IS OVER, PISTONS WIN pic.twitter.com/2KQeY24uiH

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) December 31, 2023

The Pistons now sit at 3-29 on the season.

Detroit’s losing streak had become the talk of the NBA, with the team’s game’s suddenly becoming among the most-watched league-wide as they attempted to avoid futility. On Thursday, they had come the closest yet to snapping the streak, falling 128-122 to the Boston Celtics in overtime.

Pascal Siakam dropped 20 points for Toronto in the third quarter, but even the strong performance from the two-time All-Star wasn’t enough to get his side to the right side of victory. On the evening, he scored a team-high 35 points, followed by 30 from Dennis Schroder and 24 from Gary Trent Jr.

Toronto was playing with a new-look lineup, although that won’t exactly reflect well on them when they find themselves looking back on the historic loss.

Earlier in the day, the Raptors made a blockbuster trade: sending out OG Anunoby, Malachi Flynn, and Precious Achiuwa to the New York Knicks in exchange for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a 2024 second round pick originally held by the Pistons.

Toronto’s beleaguered bench only combined for 12 points in the loss, all of which came by the way of Chris Boucher, Jalen McDaniels and Thaddeus Young.

The Raptors return home on January 1, when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers for their first game of 2024. Tipoff is set for 7 pm ET.

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