The Nets enjoyed the win, but they did not enjoy their opponent’s loss.
The Nets’ 126-115 victory over the Pistons on Saturday at Barclays Center was Detroit’s 26th straight defeat, which ties an NBA record for longest skid in a single season.
The Pistons have not won a game since Oct. 28.
“That’s on me. It’s not on the players,” Pistons head coach Monty Williams said before the game. “Any time you have this kind of streak, it’s on the guy who’s responsible for the product on the floor.”
Williams is in his first season with the Pistons but spent the previous four with the Suns, where he guided Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson until they were swapped for Kevin Durant.
Williams heaped praise on the Nets’ duo both before the game, calling them family, and Bridges and Johnson combined to go off for 47 points to further bury their former coach’s team.
“Definitely wouldn’t want that on anybody, especially not Mont,” Bridges said. “Such a great dude and works so hard and really good coach. So it’s tough.
“That’s my guy. Obviously, I don’t want him losing like this.”
Johnson was a rookie under Williams in 2019-20 for a 34-win Suns team that lost eight in a row in December. He remembers the streak, which included late-game failures that “we learned from.”
He believes the young Pistons, led by Cade Cunningham, will learn from this, too, and said they could develop into a contender.
“Sometimes, you got to lose before you can win. Sometimes, you got to fall before you crawl, walk before you can run,” Johnson said. “They have such a young team with guys that are really talented. You know, it’s sometimes a matter of staying the course and having that belief.”
The Nets did not need much crunch time play from Bridges on a night when the lead never dipped into single digits in the fourth quarter.
But Williams, who had coached Bridges for four years in Phoenix, saw the seeds that the wing could grow into a No. 1 option, even with teams that had Devin Booker and Chris Paul.
“There were times where … when we had injuries, we would put the ball in his hands in end-of-game situations,” Williams said of Bridges’ days with the Suns. “And he showed growth from the early part of that season until we traded him. You just started to see this guy that was not afraid of those moments.”
The Nets stuck with a starting lineup of Bridges, Johnson, Cam Thomas, Spencer Dinwiddie and Nic Claxton.
Ben Simmons (nerve impingement) missed his 22nd straight game. Lonnie Walker IV (left hamstring strain) sat for an 11th consecutive game.
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