AUBURN HILLS -- No one thought that Stan Van Gundy was going to have an easy time rebuilding the Detroit Pistons.
It wasn't supposed to be this bad, though.
An ugly season got even worse Saturday night as the Pistons lost 108-101 in overtime to the hapless Philadelphia 76ers -- a team that came into the game with a 1-18 record. Detroit blew a four-point lead in the final minute of regulation, then went 0-for-11 in overtime, finishing the extra session with one point.
The Sixers tied the game on a well-guarded 3-pointer by Hollis Thompson with 13.4 seconds to play, then got a defensive stop when Brandon Jennings dribbled out most of the clock before missing badly at the buzzer.
"The last play was my fault, because I should have jumped up and called a timeout when we couldn't get Brandon where he was supposed to go," Stan Van Gundy said. "On their last shot, give them credit. We guarded it well, but the ball went in the basket."
Detroit is 3-17, the worst 20-game start in franchise history, and is on an 11-game losing streak that they desperately needed to end against Philadelphia. The Pistons now face eight straight games against probable playoff teams before playing Indiana on the day after Christmas.
"That's just the NBA," said Josh Smith. "We have to find a way to put this very disappointing loss behind us, because we have to face an offensive juggernaut tomorrow in Oklahoma City. If we don't match their energy, we're going to be disappointed again tomorrow."
The Pistons didn't look great in the 48 minutes of regulation -- they had plenty of chances to put away a Philadelphia team that turned the ball over 18 times and only shot 65 percent from the free-throw line -- but their performance in overtime was hard to believe.
Time after time, Detroit got the ball into the paint, only to miss a shot at the rim. The Pistons had seven shots in overtime within three feet of the basket, yet missed all of them, getting three of them blocked by the smaller Sixers.
"We had the ball in the restricted area, shooting at point-blank range, and we couldn't get the ball in the basket," Van Gundy said. "I don't have an answer for that."
The defense kept them in the game until only 90 seconds left, but Philadelphia was finally able to make a couple shots and finish the game from the free-throw line.
"I can't tell you how huge it is for this group to be able to finish off a game like this on the road," said Sixers coach Brett Brown. "We were 0-17, but these guys stayed together and kept working every day, and now they are finally getting the reward for it."
The Pistons will have to do the same thing to keep a bad situation from getting even worse.
"I went through a long losing streak early in my career, and you just have to keep your mental focus no matter what happens," Smith said. "You have to be able to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and just keep pushing through the adversity."
