Detroit, MI—It’s the second night of a back-to-back for the Dallas Mavericks (18-8) as they travel to the Palace in Auburn Hills to face the Detroit Pistons (5-20). The Mavs come into tonight’s game on a one-game win streak after defeating the New York Knicks 108-87 last night, behind 16 points from Dirk Nowitzki. The Pistons are coming off a 113-91 loss against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night.

 

	Mavericks Projected Starters	Pistons Projected Starters
PG	Jameer Nelson 7.6 PPG, 4.3 APG, 2.7 RPG	Brandon Jennings 12.4 PPG, 6.2 APG, 2.7 RPG
SG	Monta Ellis 20.5 PPG, 4.63 APG, 2.5 RPG	Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 11.9 PPG, 1.0 APG, 3.4 RPG
SF	Chandler Parsons 16.1 PPG, 2.4 APG, 5.0 RPG	Kyle Singler 7.4 PPG, 0.8 APG, 2.4 RPG
PF	Dirk Nowitzki 18.9 PPG, 2.4 APG, 5.7 RPG	Josh Smith 1.5 PPG, 4.7 APG, 7.5 RPG
C	Tyson Chandler 10.6 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 1.4 BPG	Andre Drummond 12.1 PPG, 11.9 RPG, 1.7 BPG

 

The Los Angeles Pistons

The Pistons are the Eastern Conferences version of the Los Angeles Lakers. They’re a team with capable players, but lack a clear direction for the future. The Pistons have one of the worse offenses in the league, only scoring 93.9 points per game (29^th) and are last in the NBA in field goal shooting at 40.9 percent.

 

Their most promising asset, disgruntled power forward Greg Monroe, the heart and soul of the team has been recently linked to trade rumors.  Forward Josh Smith is making $13.5 million this season only to put up 13.5 points per game while only shooting 38 percent. The team’s starting point guard, Brandon Jennings is their version of Kobe Bryant, a volume shooter at 36.9 percent from the field on 11.1 attempts per game, who cares more about how many points he scores rather than if the team wins or not. The Piston’s starting center, Andre Drummond plays the role of Jordan Hill, who is quietly putting together another impressive season (12.1 points, 11.9 rebounds), but is going largely unnoticed due to his team’s lack of success.

 

23-32-23

That’s the number of minutes played last night by Run DMC (Dirk, Monta and Chandler).  While the Mavs are playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the team’s core three players should be well rested. This season, the Mavs are 4-1 on the second night of a back-to-back and should be able to easily improve that record to 5-1.

 

What the Western Conference?

At this point, we all realize the Mavs have a good team on their hands. Well, they’re a team that is good at beating the non-elite teams, the teams that aren’t in the top 8 in the Western Conference. Currently sitting at the 6^th seed in the conference, the Mavs are a paltry 0-5 against teams that qualify for the playoffs if they started today, with losses to San Antonio, Portland, Houston, Memphis and Golden State.

 

So, how can a team with championship aspirations truly be considered a contender without beating the elite teams in the West? Enter the 2013 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs. Last season before Christmas, the Spurs went 4-6 against team that eventually made the playoffs with an average loss margin of 11.8 points. After Christmas, the Spurs went on a tear, going 12-5 against that same group, eventually finishing with a 16-11 record against Western playoff teams.  This season, the Mavs still have 20 games or so, depending on how the standings shake out, against the elite teams in the West. Who knows, maybe the Mavs when all 20 of them or maybe they win half of them. The point is, the Spurs proved last year a lot can change between now and the end of the season.

 

All-Time Series

The Pistons lead the all-time series against the Mavs 36-30. This is the first time the two teams have met this year. Last season, the Mavs won the series 2-0.

 

Team Comparison	Mavericks	Pistons
Points	109.8 (1st)	93.3 (29th)
Rebounds	41.9 (17th)	44.6 (8th)
Assists	23.4 (7th)	19.8 (25th)
Points Allowed	102.6 (23rd)	99.8 (18th)

 

Photo Credit: WFAA.com/Mavs.com