Cade Cunningham scored 30 points and dished out 12 assists as the host Detroit Pistons snapped their record-tying, 28-game losing streak by defeating the Toronto Raptors 129-127 on Saturday.
Detroit’s skid winds up level for the all-time NBA mark. The Philadelphia 76ers lost 28 straight spanning the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
Earlier this week, the Pistons broke the NBA record for most consecutive losses in one season.
Bojan Bogdanovic contributed 19 points, Jalen Duran had 18 points and 17 rebounds and Kevin Knox II added 17 points as the Pistons avoided two consecutive winless months.
Pascal Siakam led Toronto with 35 points. Dennis Schroder supplied 30 points and nine assists, and Gary Trent Jr. had 24 points. Scottie Barnes added 22 points and nine rebounds.
The Raptors were playing the second game of a back-to-back set. They lost by two points on Friday to the host Boston Celtics, who defeated Detroit in overtime on Thursday.
Toronto was also short-handed after making a trade with the New York Knicks earlier in the day, dealing away starting forward OG Anunoby and two reserves.
The Pistons led by 10 points in the second quarter and held a 52-44 halftime lead.
Trent kept the Raptors close with his outside shooting in the third quarter. He knocked down a trio of 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the second half.
Siakam tied it at 70 on a layup with 5:30 left in the quarter.
Cunningham had 12 points and six assists in the third period before picking up his fourth foul. Siakam was even better, pouring in 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting during the third.
Bogdanovic made the final shot of the quarter, a 3-pointer, to give Detroit a 90-86 lead entering the fourth.
Clinging to a 99-97 lead, the Pistons went on an 11-2 run. Cunningham got it going with a layup. He also knocked down a 3-pointer and set up Jaden Ivey for another long ball.
Barnes scored eight consecutive Toronto points for his club to make it 112-107 with 3:59 to go.
That was as close as Toronto would come until the final minute. Siakam hit a corner 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to cut Detroit’s lead to 126-122.
The Pistons subsequently sank three free throws and the Raptors made two.
Trent hit a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left, but Bogdanovic caught the inbounds pass to end the game.
–Field Level Media
