Detroit avenged a brutal loss at Dallas with a 90-67 blowout at home of the hurting Mavericks, who were missing two key guards. Pistons center Rasheed Wallace applied brutal pressure on Dallas's Dirk Nowitzki, who ended up with a decidedly un-Dirk-like 3-for-18 day from the field. Josh Howard also shot just 6 for 17.
Devin Harris and Jerry Stackhouse were out for the Mavs. Wallace, who bragged Dirk couldn't guard him, had 21 points, nine boards, and four blocks. Flip Saunders described the performance as vintage Pistons: "We play physical, we get after it, we make teams react to what we do, and we don’t stay back. We become more proactive.” (More NBA stories.)