For the first time since October 29th, which amounts to 63 days and 28 losses later, the Detroit Pistons have won a game. 

Quick context: Detroit’s 28-game losing streak was an NBA record for most consecutive losses in a single season. It is also tied for most consecutive overall, shared with the Philadelphia 76ers, who did it across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons during the peak of their “Trust the Process” era.

The Pistons defeated the Toronto Raptors at home, 129-127, to improve (loosely using it, of course) to 3-29 on the year. Though still dead-last in the standings overall, it was good to see the young core finally pull through.

The team enjoyed good performances from its best talents, and sprinkled with solid contributions from others. Cade Cunningham had one of the finest performances a point guard could have, posting 30 points and 12 assists without committing single turnover. He deserves a ton of praise for how long he has been trying to will the team out of its historically miserable stretch.

Promising big man Jalen Duren made his presence felt downlow as per usual, delivering a strong double-double of 18 points and 17 rebounds, while resident veteran Bojan Bogdanovic added much-needed offense for 19 points. Second-year guard Jaden Ivey wasn’t as productive as he was only 1-for-5 from the field, but he shot 9-of-12 from the free-throw line and chipped in 12 points, alongside five boards, and four assists, as well as pesky defense on the Raptors. He also finished with a +3 plus-minus, highest among all Detroit starters.

Finally, there’s Kevin Knox and Alec Burks – the former had 17 points (highest output in almost two months, while the latter had 16 points in only 19 minutes of play.

The skid can make them better in the long run

What a two-month hell it must have been for the Pistons. All the blowout losses, late-game collapses, memes, wide variation of ridicule, and the frustration it had built up inside. On routine nights, they were getting trashed by as high as 32 points, and other times, which was rare, they were squandering 21-point leads in the second half. It must’ve felt like it wasn’t going to end.

The downward trend looked quite rough, and you can only hope that they got something out of it. Hopefully, it toughened them up and helped understand how to close out games. Such is a tall task for a young team, especially one that has a first-year head coach, but it’s a road every aspiring contender has to go through.

Coach Monty Williams, who’s in Year 1 of a massive six-year, $78 million deal (one of the richest in the league), still deserves criticism for his strange rotation, tendencies, and failure to squeeze chemistry in the group. However, the win could be a start of something good, and there’s still a huge room of hope that he and his staff can be better as they figure things out.

The Pistons will be on a four-game roadtrip, three of which will be against the defensively sound Houston Rockets, the defending champion Denver Nuggets, and the Golden State Warriors. Win or lose, we’ll see how much confidence boost they got.