Mavs Maniac

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

Series: Mavs lead 1-0 this season; Pistons lead 32-18 all time.



Key matchup
Chauncey Billups vs. Jason Terry: This could be terrible news for the Mavs. Billups was 0-for-5 from the field with no points until the final five minutes Sunday night against New Jersey. He was a key reason the Pistons lost. He doesn't have many games like that, much less back to back. With Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Ben Wallace, you know what you're going to get. Handling Billups is the key for the Mavs to have any chance of completing a sweep of the Pistons this season.

Inside the Mavericks


State of flux: Jerry Stackhouse may or may not be in the starting lineup for the second game in a row. Said Avery Johnson of Stackhouse's 16 points in Atlanta: "Hopefully, this will jump-start him a little bit." Eventually, Stackhouse will return to sixth-man duty when the team is healthy.

Strange how that works: Jason Terry hit 10 of 15 shots Saturday in Atlanta. Dirk Nowitzki has been on a roll pretty much all season. It should come as no surprise, Johnson says. "I saw them going to the gym on an off day before the Atlanta game," he said. "It's amazing that a lot of guys who really, really work hard on their shooting are the best shooters."

Inside the Pistons


Same as it ever was: They have had the same starting lineup for all 69 games, eclipsing the NBA record previously owned by Golden State in 2002-03 of 66. Since they acquired Rasheed Wallace on Feb. 19, 2004, the quintet has played 152 games together, winning 118.

Briefly: Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups are the fifth-highest scoring backcourt tandem in the league at just less than 40 points per game ... They had won 16 consecutive home games, the third-longest streak in franchise history, before losing to New Jersey on Sunday.