After the Detroit Pistons suffered their 14th straight loss Monday at home against the Washington Wizards, head coach Monty Williams didn’t hold back his displeasure with the team’s abysmal effort.
“It wasn’t a fight on the field,” Williams said in his post-match press conference. ESPN. “It wasn’t Pistons basketball at all. It is what it is: We have to have people who honor the organization and the jersey by competing at a high level every night. I’m not talking about ‘execution, just competing. It wasn’t that, and it’s my fault.
The Pistons were winless in November and fell to 2-15 with Monday’s 126-107 loss in a matchup between the NBA’s two worst teams. The Wizards, who improved to 3-14, hadn’t won a game since Nov. 8, but turned in one of their best performances of the season with seven players scoring in double figures.
Before the game, Williams said he loved working with Detroit’s young players and that there was a players-only meeting Friday with “responsibility” as the main topic.
The 52-year-old sang a different tune after the loss, saying he was “very” disappointed and calling the Pistons’ spirit during the game “poor.”
“It’s just a level of growth on this team, maturity, understanding what game plan discipline is — everything we talk about all the time,” he said. “It’s enough talking.”
The 14-game losing streak is the second longest in Pistons franchise history behind a 21-game skid between the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons. Detroit’s schedule isn’t going to get any easier any time soon, so players will need to figure things out quickly if they hope to avoid making history in the worst possible way.
The Pistons will return to action on Wednesday at home against the Los Angeles Lakers (10-8).
