What's worse is that over the course of the last two seasons they have actually gone a full 384 days without winning, as of Wednesday. Depending on how it was calculated, the Dragons' slump is one of the longest-losing streaks in the history of recorded sports.
In the history of VBA, no team had a worse start than Danang Dragons. The team broke the record of Hochiminh City Wings, who had nine consecutive defeats in 2018.
The Dragons most recent VBA win was 384 days ago – a 72-65 victory over the Thang Long Warriors on July 27 last year. Since then, the team have lost 16 consecutive games, with two last season and 14 this season.
The 32-point deficit of their 83-115 defeat against the Hanoi Buffaloes on Tuesday has so far been the heaviest beating the Dragons have taken this season. On the bright side, that is not a particularly historic defeat margin in basketball.
Despite playing at home, the Dragons let the Buffaloes dominate the court and the ball for the whole game.
And the frustration showed.
Danang head coach Todd Purves got sent off after two technical fouls for running out onto the court to argue with the referees. American player Jairus Holder was also sent off for two technical fouls.
Danang Dragons coach Todd Purves leaves the game early after committing two technical fouls. Photo by VBA |
Without their head coach and one of their best foreign players, Danang got ripped to shreds in the remaining time of the game. Hanoi set their own VBA game record with the resounding and relentless 115 points. Their American player Anthony January mopped the floor with Danang's defense and achieved his personal best with 41 points and 21 rebounds.
This year's VBA has seven participating teams, including Saigon Heat, Hanoi Buffaloes, Thang Long Warriors, Nha Trang Dolphins, Hochiminh City Wings, Can Tho Catfish and Danang Dragons.
The group stage includes 63 matches from June 10 to September 3, in which the teams will all play each other three times instead of twice like last year's season.
The two teams that finish first and second in the group stage will advance directly to the semifinals. The third to sixth teams will enter a play-off round with the two winning teams advancing to the semifinals. Hanoi's Buffaloes have already become the first team to clinch a direct spot in the semifinals.