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Final Score: Dallas 67 - Detroit 90

Auburn Hills, MI (Sports Network) - Rasheed Wallace scored 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots as the Detroit Pistons forced the Dallas Mavericks into their worst offensive performance of the season in a dominant 90-67 win at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Tayshaun Prince added 16 points and seven boards for Detroit, which won its fifth game in a row. Rodney Stuckey came off the bench to tally 11 points, while Richard Hamilton and Jarvis Hayes each contributed 10 points in the win.

"When we are playing our best, that's how we play," said Detroit head coach Flip Saunders. "We play physical, we get after it, we make teams react to what we do and we don't stay back. We become more proactive."

Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard each scored 15 points to pace Dallas. Nowitzki also pulled down 10 rebounds, while Howard corralled nine boards. Nowitzki shot 3-of-18 from the field for the Mavericks, who have lost two straight their a four-game winning streak was halted with a 96-90 loss in Boston on Thursday.

The teams played close through most of the opening quarter, but the Pistons outscored the Mavs 11-2 over the final 6:41 of the period, with a dunk from Prince and a free throw from Stuckey capping off the run that gave Detroit a 20-14 edge after 12 minutes.

A runner from Stuckey extended the Detroit lead to nine just 2:30 into the second stanza, before the Mavericks went on an 8-0 run that ended with a Brandon Bass layup the cut the Piston lead to 29-28 with 5:20 to go before halftime.

However, Wallace answered immediately with a three-pointer and a jumper, and the Pistons led 44-38 at the half.

"They really came out aggressive, and they stayed aggressive from start to finish," said Dallas head coach Avery Johnson. "They looked a little like the Mavericks the time we played them down in Dallas. They really wanted to even up the series, and they came out and took care of business."

Detroit's smothering defense allowed the Pistons to pull away after halftime. After a Jason Terry three made the score 50-45 just over four minutes into the third quarter, Dallas managed just six points the rest of the quarter.

Chauncey Billups hit a layup to push the lead to nine with 6:09 left in the third, but buckets for Erick Dampier and Howard cut the lead back to five.

Detroit then proceeded to score the last 10 points of the quarter, capped off by jumpers from Wallace and Hamilton as the Pistons held the Mavericks to just 13 points in the quarter and led 66-51 after three periods.

"Give their defense credit, they played well, but we had another rough game," Terry said. "We aren't clicking right now."

Dallas got as close as 13 early in the fourth quarter, but Detroit's defense proved too stiff to mount a comeback against. Detroit continued to extend its lead, going ahead by as many as 24 points in the final minutes as the Mavs scored just 29 points in the second half.

"We really looked forward to this game because they gave us a good whupping down there in Dallas," Billups said. "We had looked forward to getting them back here and playing against them. It was great. We had a lot of guys play good, our bench was great tonight."

Game Note

The 67 points and 30.3 shooting percentage were both season-lows for the Mavericks...Nowitzki recorded his sixth double-double in seven games...This is the fifth straight season the teams have split the season series, Dallas won at home over the Pistons, 102-86, on January 9.