There are some quality matchups on the NBA slate for Wednesday night. The featured contest will be the one pitting the top two seeds of their respective conferences against one another, as the Boston Celtics host the Minnesota Timberwolves in a battle of early-season heavyweights. But there is another matchup that could be just as competitive, although the teams will enter the game on very different paths than Boston and Minnesota.
The two best (and two worst) teams in the NBA will face off tonight
The Pistons are the first NBA team to lead by more than 18 points in a quarter but then lose by more than 18 points.
😖😖😖 pic.twitter.com/HooTEpEQnv
– Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 10, 2024
The Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs have the two worst records in the league through the first 10 weeks of the season and will play each other, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
Not long ago, the Pistons made history for all the wrong reasons. After starting the season 2-1, the team lost 28 games in a row, tying the all-time losing streak record and setting the NBA mark for most consecutive losses in a single season. The span lasted from before Halloween to after Christmas, and the streak was finally broken on December 30 when Detroit defeated Toronto by two points.
But the Pistons haven’t won since, losing five in a row to start the new calendar year, leaving them 1-33 in their last 34 games.
The Spurs haven’t been much better. Gregg Popovich and company endured a prolonged losing streak, dropping 18 in a row between November 5 and December 13. And since then they have won only two games, leaving their record at 5-30, by far the worst mark in the Western Conference. When the two sides meet tonight, it will be a battle between two teams with a combined record of 8-64.
The Spurs will be 3.5-point favorites over the Pistons
Wemby this season:
19.3 PPG10.1 RPG3.3 GDP
No player has averaged 15p/10r/3b in a season since Shaq in 2000. https://t.co/8K37fvqRJ3
– StatMuse (@statmuse) January 8, 2024
Despite being the visiting team, the Spurs will be the favorites in the competition. The line currently sits at -3.5, thanks in large part to the Pistons being without their leading scorer. Cade Cunningham has been perhaps the only bright spot of the NBA season so far for Detroit, but he suffered a knee strain against Dallas over the weekend and was forced to miss Tuesday’s game against Sacramento. He will be out again tonight and will miss at least the next week while he recovers.
While there are no easy wins for a bottom-feeding team, the Spurs have a chance to pick up a win or two in the coming days. Of their next seven games, six of them will be against opponents with a losing record, including two against the Hornets and one against each of the Pistons and Wizards.
