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Stuckey leads Pistons over Mavs

Jan 18, 2011 - 2:13 AM Auburn Hills, MI (Sports Network) - Rodney Stuckey led a well-balanced attack with 20 points and dished out six assists as the suddenly hot Detroit Pistons defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 103-89, at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Tayshaun Prince had 19 points and Greg Monroe posted 16 points and nine rebounds as the Pistons find themselves in their first three-game win streak of the season.

Charlie Villanueva came off the bench to chip in 15 points for the victors and Ben Gordon added 11 points.

It was Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki's second game back after missing nine games with a knee injury, but his return has not resonated with the team despite his 32 point, five rebound and five assist performance in the loss to the Pistons. The Mavericks continue to slide after finishing a four-game road trip winless and have dropped the last six overall.

"We're taking small steps," said Mavericks guard Jason Kiss. "It's not anything new as far as being in this league, you're going to play through your highs and lows and try to minimize the lows. For us right now we have enough talent we just can't get enough stops when we need to or make a shot. This is the time for us to get closer together and look at what we can do individually just to help us out. Team defense has been our blueprint when we were winning and now that we're not winning our defense has dropped off."

Jason Terry was the only other Dallas player to post double-digit scoring with 18 points.

Nowitzki scored nine first quarter points as the team's traded the lead eight times. Stuckey was put on the foul line and hit both shots after Kidd fouled him on a full court pass to give the Pistons a 21-18 lead after the first 12 minutes.

With the game tied at 28 with six minutes left in the first half, Detroit went on a an 11-point burst capped off by Prince's mid-range jumpshot. The lead stayed on the home team's side, despite Dallas finishing the half on a seven- point run to make it a 41-37 contest at the break.

Detroit continued to roll in the third where it opened the game up with a 16-point advantage after Villanueva's hook shot. The teams traded baskets the rest of the quarter, and Brian Cardinal's three-pointer followed a Gordon trey to make it a 75-62 game heading into the final frame.

"Not to jinx us, but we did a great job in that third quarter," said Pistons head coach John Kuester. "I was very impressed with how we came out and defended and offensively shared the ball. We were attacking getting post ups, guys finding the right man open and even that second group came in a did a great job of distributing the basketball."

The lead never dipped below 10 the rest of the way out while the Pistons ballooned the margin to as much as 20 after Gordon drained a pull up shot with 6 1/2 minutes left for a 95-77 score. Detroit cruised the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Detroit snapped a five-game losing streak to the Mavs...The Pistons have recently enjoyed the friendly confines of the Palace where they have won four of the last five games there and have improved to 11-9 overall...Detroit shot an impressive 57.5 percent from the field, while Dallas could not keep up making just 46.6 percent of its shots...The Pistons converted 22 points off of 16 Mavs turnovers.