Cavaliers match US all-sport mark with 26th loss in row

The NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers matched the all-time American pro team sport record for consecutive losses with their 26th defeat in a row, falling 103-94 to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.

The Cavaliers extended their NBA record losing streak, having broken the old mark of 24 they set over the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons, and equaled the US futility run established by American football's 1976-77 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers went 0-14 in their 1976 debut season and started 0-12 in the following campaign before finally winning a game, setting a losing streak mark for elite pro team sports unchallenged until now.

The Cavaliers, who began an eight-game homestand with the loss, will stand alone with the longest losing streak in American pro sport history if they lose at home Friday to the Los Angeles Clippers to drop their 27th game in a row.

The Cavaliers, who began the season 7-9, fell to 8-45 and have not won since defeating the New York Knicks in over-time on December 18.

While Cleveland was expected to struggle in the wake of LeBron James leaving for Miami last July, their epic fall to the bottom of the NBA has been astonishing.

Detroit, which improved to 20-33, rolled to a 55-43 half-time advantage and while the Cavaliers outscored the Pistons in the third and fourth quarter, it was too little and too late once again.

Rodney Stuckey scored 22 points to lead Detroit while Will Bynum added 17 for the Pistons.

Antawn Jamison led the Cavaliers with 22 points while Ramon Sessions scored 20 and J.J. Hickson added 18.