The Wizards drop a slugfest despite a comeback effort to split the season series with Detroit
One day after the Washington Wizards announced they would remain in Washington D.C. for the foreseeable future, the team lost to the only team with more losses than they have in the 2023-24 season. The Detroit Pistons outlasted a Washington comeback to win 96-87 in a slugfest of a basketball game. The Wizards fall to 14-60 on the season as the Pistons remain at the bottom of the NBA with a record of 13-61.
The Wizards went into half down 19 points to the league’s worst team. The Pistons’ young trio of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, and Jalen Duren diced up Washington for 37 of Detroit’s 59 points. They pounded DC in the paint as both teams struggled to hit threes. Corey Kispert kept Washington afloat with 16 of his 23 points coming before the break.
Washington finally found some shooting in the third quarter to claw back into the game. They took a lead at 81-80 with 10 minutes left in the game after a Jordan Poole transition layup. But the Pistons took control at a turning point with 3:56 left. Marvin Bagley III ferociously blocked Jaden Ivey’s layup, which led to another layup attempt for Poole. Poole got blocked by Cunningham like he got hit by a RKO, then watched Duren get a dunk on the other end. After a Cunningham bucket with 2:34 left, the teams (somewhat appropriately given the season) failed to score for two minutes and ten seconds. Evan “Never Google” Fournier mercifully hit the dagger three with 24 seconds left to put the Pistons up 96-87.
Kispert led Washington with 23 points with 5 threes. Bagley, Kuzma, and Deni Avdija all finished in double digits in the losing effort. Cunningham put up a game-high 33 points on 33 shots to go with 8 rebounds and 7 assists (and was not credited for the block on Poole). Duren finished with a 20/17 double-double and Ivey added 13 points of his own.
Washington takes on the Miami Heat in Capital One Arena on Sunday at 6:00 p.m.
(Edit: A previous version of this article stated “the Wizards had no incentive to lose the game as the teams with the three worst records each have a 14% of getting the first overall selection in the NBA draft lottery.” While the statement is true regarding the number one pick, the Wizards may have an incentive to drop behind Detroit as the worst team in the league is guaranteed at least a top-five pick and the second-worst has a 20% chance of falling to the sixth spot as CDKA pointed out in the comments.)