In the first quarter, the story was Sheed versus Dirk. Last year Sheed gave Dirk a mild diss after locking him up in an early season game, saying that he was a good offensive player. Both guys still seemed to have that in their minds.

Choppy play early, with both teams going 1 for 11 in the first three minutes. Then Dallas began to relax on defense and Detroit got a couple of turnovers off backcourt traps for easy buckets. After the TO Dirk and Sheed both started raining long jumpers, while Ben was slapping Eric Dampier around with blocks, tip-ins and a pretty 1-handed reverse dunk off a Chauncey pass. (The Wallaces scored 15 of Detroit's first 17.) Rip was making nice cuts and starting to look more in sync with the O, while CBill was drawing Jason Terry blocking fouls pretty much at will. Tay looked better, though still not great; he had a tough matchup with Josh Howard and Howard was the more active player throughout. Detroit lead peaks at 8, ends the quarter at 24-22.

Bench in to start the second, Dice missing a couple of jumpers. Devin Harris looking VERY good for the Mavs, shaking loose for some pretty drives lofted over Darko. You could tell the Mavs were looking for him, but they managed to avoid challenging him directly until Harris took off for a posterizing attempt from WAY out. Darko contested, but the dunk was about a foot short and scraped front rim.

Darko's first score was a left wing pick & fade jumper off a pretty behind-the-back feed by Arroyo. Carlos can really play the two-man game. The second unit (Delfino, Dice, Darko, Arroyo, Delfino) showed nice continuity; they're starting to play as a unit, and overall Arroyo ran the show effectively. He shot well and made a nice layup off a Darko pass. Pistons showed some zone. On offense Dallas reverted to its lax interior defense and Detroit started dribble-penetrating effectively-- particularly Delfino, who made a pretty scoop and some nice kickout passes. Dirk was in but really just settled for the occasional fallaway or turnaround.

Okay, about DARKO'S POSTERIZING DUNK ...

The Mavs have Diop in, a 7 foot shot blocker who is about 270 and not the most agile guy going. He comes out to the foul line as Darko takes a pass and makes a small fake. Diop bites and raises up, giving Darko room to dribble past him down the right side of the paint. You could see a really determined look on our boy's puss as he low-dribbled past a help defender right-handed, switched back to the left hand with Diop on his inside hip and DUNKED THE BALL THROUGH DIOP'S REACH.

Crowd goes nuts. I go nuts. You'll go nuts when you see it later.

After a while Dallas put four starters in, Dirk included. At that point Darko got in foul trouble, mostly aggressive stuff with him trying to swat shots. He drew his fourth for the quarter when Nowitzki attacked him before Detroit could substitute Ben Wallace. But Detroit actually held its own with Ben and four bench guys against four Dallas starters. Detroit ended the second quarter ahead 47-45, thanks to Sheed's nine points and a 22-15 edge in bench scoring. Pistons shot 60% on field goal attempts for the half, but had 11 turnovers.

Third quarter started with a camera shot of Darko actually smiling and kidding around on the bench, though he was still kind of tentative about it. Meanwhile Sheed picked up where he left off in the first quarter ... breaking scoring droughts with a tough inside leaner plus the foul for a 3 point play, as well as a pretty backdoor pass to Rip. He is our most valuable player right now, folks. Anyone who wants to trade him is saying they'd be happy winning 47 games this year.

Dallas was jacking up 3s, notably Jason Terry who scored 8 of the first 10 Mavs points. At one point they were 6 of 10 from downtown, which kept them in the game. Meanwhile the Pistons continued to bully Dallas in the paint, and Ben was relentless in bullying Dampier despite giving up four inches and 30 pounds. Eric finally scored 29 minutes into the game.

Interesting thing: With three minutes left in the third Flip changed his pattern, mixing studs 'n scrubs. Arroyo and Darko came in for CBill and Sheed, and the unit actually played pretty well. Darko fumbled some passes and rebounds; it wasn't his best game. But he did fight for an offensive rebound and trickle in a putback over a couple guys, as well as joining Ben in a double team block on the beleaguered Eric Dampier. His defense on switches was very quick and sure, showing hard on the guard and often forcing a pass away from the point of attack. Team defense was especially good, and Detroit led 67-66 at the quarter.

So, how did they lose in the fourth? The short answer was Devin Harris, who kept penetrating and scoring at will. Man, he was tough. If the first half was highlighted by Detroit's big men dominating, the second underscored just how many good swing players Dallas has ... Harris, Howard and Marquis Daniels all scored effectively, often off (yes, here it comes) dribble penetration. They got into the lane for leaners and floaters without getting too close to our shot blockers. Both Billups and Hamilton got toasted on occasion by the former Wisconsin Badger, and Jason Terry got off a lot of open threes. Not a great defensive night for our backcourt.

Back to the fourth, we had a new lineup: Billups, Evans, Delfino, Darko, Dice. Billups didn't do very well, making some poor decisions and turnovers. Evans also had an absolutely hideous possession where he tried to go one on one in a play that seemed to last five minutes, culminating in a clanked jumper. Evans must have been in Chicago recently, because he got that disease Ronald Dupree suffered from after playing for the Bulls ... a role player who forgot his role.

Long story short, Detroit had a drought. An 0 for 12 drought, and even when Chauncey made a couple of threes it didn't improve the offense. He really didn't work very hard at running the team, I thought. Guys started overpassing - foregoing good shots, freelancing, throwing the ball to guys who weren't expecting it. Meanwhile Harris & the Mavs went on a 13-1 run. Our shooting went from 60% in the first half to like 35% in the second. Ugh.

Still, there were highlights. Delfino threw a gorgeous halfcourt alley oop to Evans, and the scrub lineup actually made a comeback after Dice and Billups sat down around the four minute mark. Maxiell came in and started fighting for offensive boards, getting a free throw and a foul line jumper from a set play. And Darko provided a tantalizing sense that he might actually be a good clutch player, with a steal, block, free throw and then a 20 foot J from a couple steps inside the arc to pull the team to within 2.

Unfortunately, the Pistons lost their chance to tie when they couldn't recover a loose ball poked away under defensive pressure. Three Pistons hit the floor for it, including Darko, but it rolled out of bounds and Dallas converted the second chance. Hometown boy Rawle Marshall converted four free throws, and we tried a lot of foul/time out tactics to no avail. But it gave the young guys good pressure experience, and the veterans were not troubled by the loss ... if one can judge by the way guys were amusing themselves piling stuff on Chauncey Billups' head when he wasn't looking.

Darko line: 9 points on 4/7 shooting, two blocks ... and one very loud posterizing dunk over Diop, who may never live it down.