<div align="center"> <font color="Blue">Detroit Pistons</font> (8-8) @ <font color="Green">Dallas Mavericks</font> (12-6) Date: Monday, December 6th Time: 8:30 PM TV: NBATVHD, WDWB/WB20 Previous Games Pistons @ Hornets 92-69 WIN Jazz @ Mavericks 109-86 WIN Projected Starting Lineups PISTONS <font size="1">(Larry Brown)</font> <font size="1">(Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups)</font> <font size="4">VS</font> MAVS <font size="1">(Don Nelson)</font> <font size="1">(Erick Dampier, Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Marquis Daniels, Devin Harris)</font> Game MVPs PISTONS - <font color="Blue">Chauncey Billups</font> Predicted Stats: 26 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists MAVS - <font color="Green">Dirk Nowitzki</font> Predicted Stats: 34 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists</div> Brandon's Analysis Both teams are coming off wins, and should make this game very exciting to watch. Nowitzki has been on a roll as of late...and yes, he must be butter...because the 53-point, 16 rebound performance against Houston has everyone thinking twice when reordering their top 5 players list. Chauncey Billups had trouble finding his shot against the Hornets on Saturday, but made up for it with his 8 assists...and the sugar-coating that Big Ben Wallace had to do by stepping up his offensive game, scoring 22 points. The Mavericks need to watch out for Tayshaun Prince. Tay's perimeter defense could shut down their three point game tonight, and any attempts of Howard penetrating to the hoop. Prince can also become a pest on offense, so leaving him open to utilize the double team could be a costly mistake for the Mavs. The Pistons need to focus on shutting down passing lanes and keeping Nowitzki from taking easy jumpers. Sheed will have his hands full tonight, but expect alot of help from Ben Wallace, if Dirk drives the lane. Also, Billups could get hot from downtown tonight, especially against rookie Devin Harris...so feeding him early could help with a nice, comfy lead going into the 3rd quarter. Brandon's Prediction This game could go into overtime...but I'll say it stays close and Nowitzki is the only one to show up for the 4th quarter. However, Billups will lose his shot in the final minutes, and Nowitzki will hit a few too many jumpers to give the Mavs this win in Dallas, 103-97.
Thanks for doing the preview, It's early but to me this is a must win game. Can't afford to slip below 500 again, the schedule is quite weak after this game. Starting a win streak is very important heading into the next 10 games or so. Mcdyess is questionable for tonight and him missing could really hurt the bench depth. Sheed needs to defend Dirk well like he has done in the past and Ben needs to control the paint and make Dampier a non factor on both ends of the floor. Billups needs to get hot early and stay out of foul trouble, that was a big reason the Pistons lost to the Spurs. The last 4 games the well known Pistons defense has seemed to have returned (only giving up 79 points per game) and will need to be in full force tonight, time for the champions to make a statement to one of the west's elite.
As long as the Pistons can keep the ball away from Dirk they could/should win it. I expect Chauncey and Dirk to both go at it from 3pt land. Keeping the other team away from the boards will also play a huge factor in this game.
This game was never in doubt after the first quarter, a dominate display by the Pistons tonight. 101-85 Sheed looked more active and did a great job on Dirk. Dallas can't guard Billups and really never have. Got good bench production from both campbell and hunter. It's good news that the defense is finally back, holding the Mavs to just 33% shooting. Dirk also being held to 6-24 from the field. Dallas got nothing inside and every run they tried to make the Pistons came straight back and answered. Billups as I mentioned always plays well against Dallas and poured in 24 points 4 rebounds and 8 assists. seems Ben is back to his normal rebounding days, he had 15 boards Got a pretty easy set of games coming up now and quite a few winnable ones. So I expect a winning streak coming up. Mcdyess sat out his 2nd straight game but It doesn't seem serious and he should be back by wednesday.
good win over a solid Dallas team (12-7). as AllNet said, good to see our defense again. we've got a stretch of sub-par teams that we should be able to beat up on, until the Indiana game on Christmas and Miami game on Dec 30.
