Mavericks Win Again With Defense 95-90

Defense Prevails Again as Dallas Shoots Only 43.9 Percent For the Game.

The Dallas Mavericks (7-3) faced off against the Detroit Pistons (5-5) Sunday night (Nov. 15) and both teams seemed to have their injury issues. The Pistons were without shooting guard Richard Hamilton and forward Tayshaun Prince, while Dallas was without Josh Howard and (a late scratch) Erick Dampier. Damp was actually taken to the hospital shortly before tip-off and it is being reported that he fell "ill", whatever that means. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said its nothing serious, but Damp will be held overnight for observation.

Drew Gooden started for Damp and had his first double-double in a Mavericks uniform with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Gooden relished the opportunity to start his first game with the Mavericks, even though it was under difficult circumstances.

"I didn't know I was starting until they were announcing the lineups — I thought Erick was still on the floor with us," Gooden said. "This was an opportunity, and with all the talent on this team, I knew I needed to take it."

Detroit kept the game close throughout, and were within three points with two seconds left in regulation. Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum shredded the Dallas defense, getting to the basket at will and scoring 28 and 27 points respectively. The Mavericks defense held late, though, and Ben Gordon missed a three-pointer that would have sent it to overtime. Only one other Pistons player was in double figures; Charlie Villanueva at 13. Ben Gordon was 1-16 on the night.

"We knew that they were going to give us a battle and they did," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "We were fortunate to get out of this one alive, but we'll take it."

Rookie Rodrigue Beaubois started his second consecutive game and set career highs in shooting percentage (6 of 6), points (14), assists (four), and minutes (19). Despite his strong start on the offensive and defensive ends (he held the Bulls Ben Gordon to only 1 basket and forced two turnovers against the NBA's 5th leading scorer) Carlisle decided to play it safe with the rookie, allowing him to gradually make his way into the full rotation. Or Carlisle has a short fuse and any mistake Roddy B makes, he takes him out.

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas in scoring for the eighth time in ten games with 25 points but, again, it took Dirk 27 shots to get there. Nowitzki also contributed six boards, five assists, and two blocks.

Dallas has now won five of seven games this year in which they have scored under 100 points.

This was the first night of a back-to-back and Dallas will be in Milwaukee Monday night (Nov. 16) to take on the Bucks at 7:00 p.m.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)