Dirk Nowitzki had 23 points to lead Dallas in scoring again as the Mavericks won 102-86 to hand the Pistons their second straight loss after an 11-game winning streak.
It’s only the second time this season Detroit has lost consecutive games.
Dallas stretched its winning streak to five games in a row.
Four nights after the Pistons’ 92-85 loss to the Boston Celtics when they blew a 12-point lead, this one wasn’t even close. They led only 14 seconds against Dallas - after Chauncey Billups hit a short runner on their first shot of the game to lead 2-0.
Nowitzki led the Mavericks in scoring for the 10th straight game on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and also grabbed nine rebounds.
Devin Harris scored 19 points for Dallas, Jerry Stackhouse and Jason Terry had 15 points each, and Josh Howard added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Erick Dampier, who sat out the last two games because of a swollen left knee, was 3-of-3 shooting to extend his streak of consecutive made field goals to a team-record 14. The last was a slam dunk with 4:45 left that made it 95-75.
Richard Hamilton had 18 points to lead the Pistons, while Billups had 16.
The Mavericks seized a 32-20 after the first quarter. After the Pistons outscored Dallas 23-16 in the second to cut their deficit to 48-43 by halftime, the Mavs posted a 31-23 advantage in the third period to take complete control.
Rasheed Wallace pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds for Detroit but was limited to nine points.
