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DESPERATE: Snapping season-high 5-game losing streak – at Cleveland, no less – saved Pistons season

(Editor’s note: The Pistons snapped a six-year playoff drought and improved by 12 wins over Stan Van Gundy’s debut season, finishing 44-38. We’ve identified the five most significant wins – significant for a variety of reasons – and are reviewing them over the course of the week. Today: A badly needed win to snap the season’s longest losing streak.)

There was no hesitation for Stan Van Gundy when his handpicked general manager, Jeff Bower, came to him during the All-Star break to tell him of an intriguing trade offer.

Orlando was making available Tobias Harris – a player Van Gundy would have gone after hard in free agency if it hadn’t been for Harris’ restricted status seven months earlier – and the return wouldn’t touch the core Van Gundy and Bower had worked wonders to put in place. The Magic wanted Brandon Jennings, two months from hitting free agency, and Ersan Ilyaosva.

It was similar to 12 months earlier, when Bower engineered a trade that gave Van Gundy a long-term answer at a critical position, landing point guard Reggie Jackson from Oklahoma City for spare parts. Both trades were easy calls for Van Gundy to OK, but the coach in him also understood the considerable chemistry jolt and what it could mean to playoff hopes.

Those playoff hopes suddenly seemed on fumes when on Feb. 21 the Pistons lost to New Orleans, which came to The Palace with a 21-33 record, on a Sunday afternoon in which Anthony Davis would torch them for 59 points. Afterward, a somber group packed up their bags and hustled to the airport for a flight to reigning Eastern Conference champion Cleveland, where they would need to record their most ...

DESPERATE WIN