Dallas @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 9, 2019 ) Dallas 117, Detroit 124

The Dallas Mavericks had a five-game winning streak come to an end with a home loss to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday but had three full days of practice to fix what went wrong. The Mavericks will try to get back into the win column when they travel to Mexico City to play the Detroit Pistons.

Dallas hopefully found some time to relax after it was frustrated with the officiating in Sunday's 110-106 setback, when star Luka Doncic was whistled for a technical foul in the first quarter before visibly losing his cool after a pair of no-calls late. "My thing is, I'm passionate for the game," Doncic told reporters. "I want to win, and I just sometimes get out of control, because I want to win the whole time. I'm competitive. You can ask my family. Even if it's not basketball, if it's anything, I'm so competitive. But, yeah, I've got to work on that for sure. ... I know a lot of times I'm wrong. Persons are wrong sometimes, and I've just got to learn to calm myself down and go to the next play." Doncic could have also used the three days off to study film of Pistons point guard Derrick Rose, who knocked down the game-winning jumper in Monday's 105-103 win at New Orleans after sealing Friday's win over Indiana with a pair of late jumpers. "Excuse my English, but I'm born to do this (stuff)," Rose told the Detroit television broadcast after Monday's triumph.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Dallas), FS Detroit

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (16-7): Doncic collected 27 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in the loss to Sacramento, giving him 19 consecutive games with at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists to break a record set by Michael Jordan for the most since the NBA/ABA merger. "There's a lot of stats going on," Doncic told reporters. "I think it's a little bit too much stats. You can't compare nobody to Michael Jordan. He's one of a kind. Those are just stats." Doncic is averaging 30 points, 9.8 rebounds and 9.2 assists as he makes the leap to legitimate MVP candidate.

ABOUT THE PISTONS (10-14): Detroit comes in hot with wins in four of its last five games and is thriving at the defensive end, allowing an average of 99 points in the four victories. The defense kept the team in the game just long enough for Rose to get loose in the last two contests, and the former MVP is thriving in a bench role and with a minutes restriction for the Pistons. "He's an MVP for a reason," Detroit coach Dwane Casey told reporters. "We're not getting the young Derrick Rose, but the young man didn't do almost anything all summer long. A little bit in training camp, a little bit in exhibition. He's coming around. Again, he was an MVP, he's still an MVP mentally for a reason."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pistons SG Luke Kennard was 1-of-6 from 3-point range on Monday after knocking down 13-of-24 over the previous four contests.

2. Mavericks PG Delon Wright (groin) is not expected to play Thursday.

3. The home team took each of the last five meetings.

PREDICTION: Mavericks 110, Pistons 103