The Pistons’ infamous season goes on. They have now lost more games in a row during a single campaign than any other team in franchise history.

With a season-high 35 points from D’Angelo Russell and 28 points and 16 rebounds from Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated Detroit 103-107 on Wednesday, the 15th consecutive game the Pistons have lost. On another gloomy evening in the Motor City, Cade Cunningham led the team in scoring with fifteen points.

The losing run, which started on October 30 with a 12-point defeat in Oklahoma City, is only six games short of the 21-game skid the Pistons experienced between two seasons, or around 43 years ago. Detroit, which has the lowest record in the NBA (2-16), plays Cleveland at home on Saturday after returning to Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Before the game, Pistons coach Monty Williams said, “I think it’s human nature—when you’re winning, you focus on the winning, and when you’re losing (that’s your) focus, it’s just the way it is.” We make an effort to balance that emphasis with constantly doing the right thing. I believe that consistency and playing the appropriate things throughout the course of a game are what every young team or young player strives to achieve on a daily basis.

LeBron James, who stated that “a lot” needed to change on his team following a 44-point loss to the Sixers on Monday, scored 25 points and pulled down 8 rebounds in just 29 minutes for the Lakers. Before Wednesday’s game, his coach, Darvin Ham, walked into the press room sporting a recently cropped beard.

Ham deadpanned, “Yeah man, just following LeBron’s orders – had to change my face.” “I assumed he was referring to my facial hair.”

On Monday, LeBron had reluctant to provide specifics about what he believed ought to be changed. Moments had passed since the Lakers’ handily worst loss of the season and their most lopsided loss in his 21-year tenure.

According to Ham, the Lakers didn’t confront the catastrophe in Philadelphia until Wednesday morning, when they held a positive, constructive film session and Ham gave a major speech in which he reassured his players that their season was not defined by one poor night in Philadelphia.

For example, the Lakers advanced to the quarterfinals of the In Season Tournament with a 4-0 record and will host Phoenix on Tuesday. Despite having a mere 11-8 record overall, Los Angeles has had injuries throughout the season, missing much of it with backup point guard Gabe Vincent and starter guard Jarred Vanderbilt. Cam Reddish made a comeback on Wednesday after missing the previous three games due to minor leg issues, but Rui Hachimura is still out with a broken nose.

“The most important thing about James is that, like me, he’s a fierce competitor, so it was difficult to experience the loss to the Sixers,” Ham remarked. “It’s acceptable to feel frustrated because you have a strong interest in the game, but we must avoid becoming overly emotional and losing our direction or focus.”

On Wednesday, the Lakers did not act in this manner. James, an avid Buckeyes supporter who was born in Akron, and Russell, an Ohio State alum whose point total was his highest since being traded to the Lakers last season, skillfully and calmly dismantled Michigan’s professional basketball team. Perhaps some retaliation for last Saturday’s events on the football field.

Isaiah Stewart scored 14 points for the Pistons in the defeat. During the blowout, two of the largest audience responses occurred in the fourth quarter when Wolverines players were shown by the Pistons game operations staff, and in the third when a Pistons fan—wearing a Detroit jersey, no less—was shown picking his nose on the video board.

In the past ten years, Detroit has only made it to the playoffs twice, and not at all since the 2018–19 season. The Pistons’ rebuilding season was marred by disappointment as Cunningham, the top choice in the 2021 draft, missed all but 12 games after surgery to treat a stress fracture in his left leg. Last year’s 17 victories were the second-fewest in team history.

Although it’s no secret that they were hoping for better, the Pistons anticipated this season would have more ups and downs. With a record six-year, $78.5 million contract, they enticed Williams—who had led the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals in 2021—back to coaching. They also acquired veteran role players Monte Morris and Joe Harris, and they knew Cunningham would return healthy.

Their well-laid intentions for a more successful season have fallen through. Due to injuries, Morris and local veteran Bojan Bogdanovic haven’t participated in any games; on Wednesday, Harris missed his 11th straight game because of a separated shoulder.

Although Cunningham is having a career-high season so far in terms of points, shots, and assists, the Pistons are starting two players, in rookie Ausar Thompson and veteran Jalan Duren, who are younger than Cunningham, who is 22 years old. The Pistons’ roster is the third youngest in the NBA overall, with an average age of 21.5 years for Detroit’s starters, the youngest in the league. They had the 23rd-ranked defense and 27th-ranked offense in the league going into their game versus the Lakers. Only five teams make a smaller proportion of their threes than the Pistons, who shot the fewest threes in the league.

Easily one of the most extensive media data booklets in the NBA, Detroit’s booklet states that the Pistons have covered the second-farthest court distance this season based on the distance that players have run during games.