DETROIT — The Pistons are trying to avoid their dubious place in history — or infamy — with the worst losing skid in NBA annals.
It’s the Nets’ job to send them there Tuesday, even if it pains Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson to do it to friend and former coach Monty Williams.
“Yeah, for sure,” Bridges said. “Definitely wouldn’t want that on anybody, especially not Mont, such a great dude and works so hard and really good coach. So it’s tough.
“Because I mean, I know he’s a big faithful guy, and it’s just all part of the story. So just sometimes you’ve got to struggle to get to what you want. But yeah, that’s my guy, obviously I don’t want him losing like this. But you know God has got something for him towards the end. And it’s just something he has to go through.”
What Williams has gone through is a 2-27 start to his tenure in Detroit, and a winless skid that has reached epic proportions.
The Pistons have dropped 26 straight to tie a share of the all-time single-season NBA mark with the 2010-11 Cavaliers and 2013-14 76ers.
If Brooklyn wins Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena, Detroit would be alone with that unenviable history.
It’s a record Bridges and Johnson are trying to ignore.
“Not too much on the history, but just knowing where they’re at,” Bridges said. “They’re not a bad team. It’s just, you get in that funk where you keep losing, keep losing. So you’ll play well and it’s like when things get tight towards the end, it’s just tough to win a game.
“So you can’t sleep on them, because they’re talented as hell and they could go out and beat you. So you’ve just got to keep staying locked-in.”
Make no mistake, if the Nets get beat by this team — kind words aside — it would be their worst result in recent memory.
But there is cruel irony in Bridges and Johnson being the ones on either end of this result.
Williams took the Phoenix head coaching job in 2019-20 after Bridges’ rookie campaign, and before the Suns drafted Johnson.
Both essentially grew up in the NBA under Williams, reaching the 2021 Finals and being part of the Kevin Durant trade in February.
“It’s well-documented how I feel about those two guys,” Williams said. “They were with me from pretty much Day 1 when I got to Phoenix. Mikal was my first conversation with a player. Cam was my first workout.
“It was a pretty emotional trade for me to let those guys go because of the time invested, the growth, and where we thought they could go as players. I’ve watched a lot of their games [for Brooklyn]. I still text and talk to those guys. They both have come back to Phoenix and they run into my family and my family will send me a picture of them, one of Cam or Mikal. We’ll be tied at the hip for a long, long time. They’re family. I always wanna see those guys do well except [Tuesday].”
“The Twins” feel the same.
Brooklyn snapped a five-game skid with Saturday’s home win over the Pistons, and can build momentum in the return leg against a young team clearly trying to find it’s way.
“Sometimes you’ve got to lose before you can win. Sometimes you’ve got to fall before you crawl, walk before you can run,” Johnson said. “My first year in Phoenix with Coach Mont — it was his first year in Phoenix also — we were on a 10-, 11-game losing streak. … Game-winners against us, just weren’t really able to close out games, which we learned from. We learned from it.
“I loved playing for Coach Mont. Four years of it, and you grow close over that time and you learn a lot about the game. I learned a lot from him. He was huge in my development as a player, so I know what he’s capable of on that end. They’ve got so much young talent, if they believe, they can really be a good, solid team.”
The Nets just need to make sure it’s not Tuesday.