Wins have been very hard to come by for the Detroit Pistons this season. They found a highly improbable way to lose on Monday and enter their home game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday with a six-game losing streak.
Detroit led the Los Angeles Clippers by 14 points with three minutes remaining but got outscored 16-2 the remainder of regulation. Los Angeles then dominated the overtime session and stole a 142-131 victory.
Since the 1996-97 season, only two other teams had erased deficits of 14 points or more in the last three minutes, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Clippers had only one starter on the floor during a majority of the comeback.
The Pistons wiped out a 15-point, third-quarter deficit and scored 13 unanswered points during the fourth quarter to build the 14-point advantage. They had eight players score in double figures, led by Bojan Bogdanovic with 23 points. Bogdanovic missed a potential winning shot in the final second of regulation.
The Pistons, who play their next five games on the road after Wednesday, won their season opener against the Magic 113-109 behind a 24-point performance from Bogdanovic. They will play the remaining games of the four-game season series in Orlando on Feb. 23 and April 2.
Orlando will be playing the tail end of a back-to-back set on Wednesday. After winning eight of the previous nine games, the Magic were pummeled at home by the Los Angeles Lakers 129-110 on Tuesday.
The Lakers led by as many as 21 points while shooting 54.4 percent. The Magic, who also got outrebounded 46-37, never held a lead of more than three points.
Top overall draft pick Paolo Banchero will look to bounce back from the worst game of his young career. The Orlando forward scored a season-low four points on 1-for-6 shooting and committed five fouls.
Markelle Fultz led Orlando with 16 points against the Lakers, and five of his teammates also finished in double figures.
The Magic are 4-12 on the road this season, and the Pistons are 4-13 at home.
