December 30, 2023: The Longest Losing Streak In NBA History

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NOTE: While these entries are dated 2022, I decided to backdate the posting dates of events from 2023 onward to the same date in 2022.

December 30, 2023: The Detroit Pistons beat the Toronto Raptors, 129-127 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Pascal Siakam scored 35 points for the Raptors, and Dennis Schröder scored 30. Cade Cunningham scored 30 to lead the Pistons.

This ended a 28-game losing streak for the Pistons. It was tied for the longest losing streak in not just NBA history, but the longest in the history of major league sports in North America. It also became the longest single-season losing streak.

The Pistons had lost their 1st game of the 2023-24 season, then won their next 2. But on October 30, they lost away to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 124-112. They eventually fell to 2-29. Of the 28 losses, 11 of them were by 8 points or less.

From March 27 to December 1, 2015, the Philadelphia 76ers lost 28 straight games, but that was over the course of 2 seasons: Their last 18 games of in 2014-15, and their 1st 10 of 2015-16. They broke their own record: From January 31 to March 29, 2014, they lost 26 straight, tying the record set by the Cleveland Cavaliers from December 20, 2010 to February 11, 2011.

In the 1972-73 season, when the Sixers had the worst record in NBA history, 9-73, their longest losing streak was 20 games, from January 9 to February 14, 1973. And, straddling the previous off-season, they lost 19 straight from March 21 to November 11, 1972.

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December 30, 2023 was a Saturday. These other 5 NBA games were played that day:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Indiana Pacers, 140-126 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-92 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-106 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Miami Heat, 117-109 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

* And the Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors, 132-122 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Luka Dončić of the Mavericks led all scorers on the day with 39 points.

Baseball was out of season. One game was played in the NFL: The Dallas Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions, 20-19 at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Lions scored a touchdown with less than a minute to go, and seemed to have taken the lead on a tackle-eligible play on the two-point conversion attempt. However, the referee ruled that the unusually-eligible player had not announced to him that the play would be tried. The video replay proved that the referee was a liar, and, through either malice or incompetence, the win was stolen from the Lions.

There were 4 college football bowl games played:

* Number 6 Georgia had lost the Southeastern Conference Championship Game to Alabama. Number 4 Florida State had won the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, and were undefeated, but were denied a spot in the National Championship Playoff. They did not make their point well: Georgia beat them, 63-3 in the Orange Bowl, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It was the biggest blowout in bowl game history.

* Number 11 Mississippi (a.k.a. "Ole Miss") beat Number 10 Penn State, 38-25 in the Peach Bowl, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

* Maryland beat Auburn, 31-13 in the Music City Bowl, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

* And the University of Wyoming beat the University of Toledo, 16-15 in the Arizona Bowl, at Arizona Stadium, on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson.

And there were 9 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-1 at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Boston Bruins, 5-2 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Amerant Bank Arena in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Nashville Predators beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 in a shootout at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Jeff Skinner scored the winning goal with 3:40 left in overtime.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-2 at the PPG Points Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-2 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 in a shootout at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

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