On Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Detroit Pistons as they continue to finish the month of April on the road. The Mavericks are looking to keep the momentum going as the season comes to an end. With limited games left, each game becomes more crucial for the Mavericks to hold onto the sixth seed in the western conference standings.

On Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Golden State Warriors in the second to last game in the month of April. The Mavericks started this game absolutely on fire as their offense was cooking on all cylinders that resulted in the Mavericks taking a 62-29 lead at halftime. It was all over from there as the Mavericks cruised to a 133-103 win. Luka Doncic finished the game with 39 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists in the blowout win. With the win, the Mavericks record improved to 34-27 on the season, as they now won four of their last five games. The Mavericks still have tons of work to do to maintain onto the sixth seed in the western conference as they are just 0.5 game ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers, just limited amount of games left in the season.

The Detroit Pistons are coming into this game by going 3-7 in their last 10 games. They are recently coming off a 100-86 win against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday to see their record improve to 19-43 on the season. The Pistons were coming into this season with hopes of trying to make the playoffs but that would not how the season would turn out as they now turn their focus into landing a good draft pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. The Pistons are currently the third-worst team in the NBA, which puts them in a good spot to land a good draft pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. This team is led by Jerami Grant as they look to finish the season on a good note. If their current trend continues, they have a good chance at getting a top five draft pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

Coming into this game, the Mavericks won their last meeting with the Pistons 127-117 on April 21st, 2021. This will be the final time these two teams play each other in the regular season. The Mavericks previously won their regular season series last season 1-0 against the Pistons. Overall, the Pistons hold the all-time series with a record of 42-36.

The Mavericks started this game by having Luka Doncic (left elbow contusion), Dorian Finney-Smith (left lower leg soreness) and Tyrell Terry (personal reasons) be ruled out for this game, while everyone else is available to play. As a result, the Mavericks went with Brunson, Richardson, Hardaway Jr, Porzingis and Powell as their starting five in this game. The first points in the game would belong to Josh Richardson as he nailed a two pointer for the Mavericks to get this game underway. The Pistons wouldn’t get their first points until the 11:16 mark as Isaiah Stewart knocked down a layup to tie the game at 2-2. The Pistons were able to grab their lead lead in the game as Sekou Doumbouya knocked down a three pointer to take a 5-4 lead with 10:08 left in the quarter. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 9:13 left in the quarter as the Pistons would go on to build a 10-4 lead. Prior to this timeout, the Pistons were playing with “nothing to lose” as they were able to open the game by making all of their first four attempts taken while the Mavericks made just two of their first six attempts taken thus far. As always, the Mavericks were slow to start the game while the Pistons had the “motors” running. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Dwight Powell as he was able to convert on a two pointer while being fouled, where he would knock down the “AND-ONE” free-throw to come within 10-7 of the Pistons with 8:56 left in the quarter. The Pistons were playing like they just passed their “inspection” as everything was good on both ends of the court. The Mavericks were able to take the lead right back after Tim Hardaway Jr knocked down a three pointer to take a 16-15 lead with 7:02 left in the quarter. The Mavericks just had to get their “car to warm up a little bit” before taking it out for a ride as that’s exactly how their offense was operating thus far. The Pistons would call a timeout with 5:58 left in the quarter as the Mavericks were holding a 18-17 lead. Prior to this timeout, both teams were able to get something going from their offense as the Mavericks generated a 9-2 run to maintain control of the lead. The Mavericks better hope they came to this game prepared because the Pistons came to play. Coming out of the timeout, the Pistons turned to Josh Jackson on a offensive rebound as he was able to convert on a jump shot to tie the game at 19-19 with 5:31 left in the quarter. The Pistons were able to take a three point lead after Sekou Doumbouya knocked down a layup to take a 22-19 lead with 4:41 left in the quarter. Boy, these Pistons were playing extremely hard and you couldn’t tell that they had one of the worst records in the NBA, unless I told you because their effort was spontaneous. In the final minutes of the quarter, nobody could grab a lead as the game would be tied at 26-26 into the second quarter. The game leading scorer after one quarter of play would belong to Tim Hardaway Jr, Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart and Sekou Doumbouya as they all scored 6 points for their respective teams. The Mavericks are going to have to earn this victory because the Pistons were playing like a “brand new car with no problems” in this quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks were shooting 42.9% on 9-of-21 shooting from the field.

The second quarter would begin by having Hamidou Diallo nail a slam dunk for the Pistons to get this quarter underway. The Mavericks wouldn’t get their first points in the quarter until the 10:28 mark as Dwight Powell nailed a layup to tie the game at 28-28. The Pistons were able to extend their lead to four points after Tyler Cook knocked down two free-throws to extend their lead to 32-28 with 9:50 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to take the lead right back after Josh Green nailed a slam dunk to take a 33-32 lead that forced the Pistons to call a timeout with 8:03 left in the quarter. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making three of their first eight attempts while the Pistons made just two of their first five attempts taken thus far. The Mavericks were able to generate a quick 5-0 run to grab control of the game thus far. Coming out of the timeout, the Pistons turned to Saben Lee but couldn’t convert as he missed a layup that kept the score at 33-32 with 7:44 left in the quarter. The game would find its way to be tied after Frank Jackson knocked down a layup to tie the game at 34-34 with 7:12 left in the quarter. A technical foul would be called on JJ Redick for arguing with the Officials thus allowing Frank Jackson to take the “Technical Foul” free-throw in which he knocked down to come within 37-35 of the Mavericks with 6:53 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to keep their lead after Trey Burke knocked down a “finger-roll” layup to take a 39-38 lead with 6:32 left in the quarter. Both teams were neck-and-neck of each other as nobody could find a way to breakaway from the other team, thus far in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to get something going as they were able to extend their lead to five points after Trey Burke knocked down two free-throws to take a 43-38 lead with 5:35 left in the quarter. Both teams would then “trade shots” until the Pistons were able to trim their deficit to two points after Josh Jackson knocked down a three pointer to come within 49-47 of the Mavericks, that forced Rick Carlisle to call a timeout with 3:31 left in the quarter. Prior to this timeout, the Pistons were able to generate a 8-3 run to keep themselves in the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Tim Hardaway Jr as he was able to convert on a “goaltending call” that extended their lead to 51-48 with 3:19 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 60-54 lead into halftime. The game leading scorer after two quarters of play would belong to Tim Hardaway Jr as he scored 17 points for the Mavericks. The Pistons were led by Isaiah Stewart as he scored 12 points. Both teams were able to generate their scoring runs as this game remained close to what you probably expected it to be. At the end of the first half, the Mavericks were shooting 47.6% on 20-of-42 shooting from the field.

Coming out of the half, the Pistons were able to get on the board first in the third quarter by having Josh Jackson nail two free-throws to come within 60-56 of the Mavericks. Kristaps Porzingis was able to score the first points in the quarter for the Mavericks as he nailed a jump shot with 11:00 minutes left in the quarter to extend their lead to 62-56. The Mavericks were able to extend their lead to eight points after Kristaps Porzingis knocked down a “bank shot” to extend their lead to 68-56 with 9:32 left in the quarter. The Mavericks offense continued to go on a roll as Tim Hardaway Jr was able to knock down a floating jump shot to take a 71-61 lead with 8:32 left in the quarter. The Mavericks started this quarter much better than they were playing in the first half as their offense was in rhythm to begin the quarter thus far. The Pistons were able to trim their deficit to three points after Saddiq Bey knocked down a three pointer that forced Rick Carlisle to call a timeout with 7:09 left in the quarter as the Mavericks lead was shrunk to 71-68. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making five of their first eight attempts while the Pistons made four of their first six attempts taken thus far. The Pistons were able to generate a 7-0 run to get themselves back in the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Josh Richardson as he was able to convert on a three pointer to extend their lead to 74-68 with 6:49 left in the quarter. The Pistons were able trim their deficit to three points after Hamidou Diallo knocked down the “AND-ONE” free-throw to come within 74-71 of the Mavericks with 5:53 left in the quarter. Both teams still couldn’t create a scoring run that would breakaway from the other team as this game would get interesting the more we get into this game. The Mavericks would, once again, extend their lead back to six points after Maxi Kleber knocked down a jump shot to extend their lead to 79-73 with 4:03 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 86-83 lead into the fourth quarter. The game leading scorer after three quarters of play would belong to Tim Hardaway Jr as he scored 25 points for the Mavericks. The Pistons were led by Saddiq Bey as he scored 17 points. The Mavericks simply couldn’t generate enough offense to generate some separation from the Pistons as the Pistons were right there with the Mavericks. Through three quarters of play, the Mavericks were shooting 47.7% on 31-of-65 shooting from the field. This would not only be a huge loss but a bad loss if the Mavericks can’t play good basketball in the final 12:00 minutes of the game.

The fourth quarter would begin by having Hamidou Diallo nail two free-throws for the Pistons to get this quarter underway. The Mavericks weren’t able to get their first points in the quarter until the 10:54 mark by having Josh Green nail a layup to extend their lead to 88-85. The Mavericks would learn that Kristaps Porzingis would NOT return to the game after having right knee soreness as the Mavericks would need to turn to somewhere else to leave the arena with a win. The Pistons would take the lead after Frank Jackson knocked down a three pointer to take a 90-88 lead with 10:06 left in the game. The Pistons were able to finally generate enough offense to grab control of the game and flip the momentum to their side. The Mavericks would have problems with fouling as they couldn’t stop fouling the Pistons on defense. This game didn’t need to be anywhere near this close as this was all on the Mavericks for allowing this game to be close than it needed to be. The Pistons would call a timeout with 8:17 left in the game as they were holding a 90-88 lead. Prior to this timeout, the Pistons opened the quarter by making one of their first four attempts while the Mavericks made just one of their first seven attempts taken thus far. The Pistons were able to generate a 7-2 to open the quarter to grab control of the lead thus far. The Mavericks would need to get something going in the remaining minutes of the game if they want to capture a win. Coming out of the timeout, the Pistons turned to Frank Jackson but couldn’t convert as he missed a jump shot that kept the score at 90-88 with 8:00 minutes left in the game. The game would find its way to be tied after Trey Burke nailed a jump shot to tie the game at 90-90 with 7:40 left in the game. The Pistons would take the lead after Hamidou Diallo knocked down a slam dunk to take a 92-90 lead with 7:03 left in the game. The game would find its way to be tied, again, after Boban Marjanovic knocked down two free-throws to tie the game at 92-92 with 6:03 left in the game. This game looked like it would come down to the final minutes of the game by the way this quarter was playing out, thus far. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 5:15 left in the game as the Pistons were leading 96-94. Prior to this timeout, both teams were trading shots at they each went on a 4-4 run. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Tim Hardaway Jr on a offensive rebound, as he was able to convert on a layup to tie the game, once again, at 96-96 with 4:35 left in the game. The Mavericks were able to take the lead after Tim Hardaway Jr knocked down a jump shot to take a 98-96 lead with 4:35 left in the game. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 3:33 left in the game after Pistons took the lead right back at 99-98. This quarter was filled with nothing but back-and-forth as both teams were trading shots. This game got very interesting as we will see who plays the better basketball in the remaining minutes of the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Tim Hardaway as he was fouled while shooting a three pointer, which he would knock all three free-throws to take a 101-99 lead with 3:20 left in the game. The Pistons would immediately answer with a three pointer of their own as Isaiah Stewart knocked down the three pointer to take a 102-101 lead with 3:07 left in the game. Tim Hardaway Jr was again fouled on a three point attempt, which he knocked down all three free-throws to take a 104-102 lead with 2:46 left in the game. The Pistons would call a timeout with 1:25 left in the game as the Mavericks were leading 106-104. Prior to this timeout, both teams were fighting extremely hard to determine the winner of the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Pistons turned to Saddiq Bey as he was able to draw a foul to go to the free-throw line, which he only made one to come within 106-105 of the Mavericks with 1:19 left in the game. The potential game sealing bucket would come to Tim Hardaway Jr nailing a three pointer to give him a new career-high in points as that extended the lead to 109-105 with 1:04 left in the game.

This team looked like they were playing on the Pistons’ level as that allowed the Pistons to remain in the game. The first half of the game, resulted in the Mavericks taking a 60-54 halftime lead. The Mavericks can’t afford to lose this game as they want to remain in control of the sixth seed in the western conference standings. The Mavericks can’t afford to lose games and “scoreboard watch” to hope other teams below them in the western conference standings, lose their games as well. The Mavericks have to take care of business, otherwise they will see the sixth seed go to a different team that’s more deserving.

In the end, it was the Dallas Mavericks defeating the Detroit Pistons 115-105. The Mavericks record would improve to 35-27 on the season. Tim Hardaway Jr finished the game with a career-high 42 points and 3 assists in the win. The Pistons were led by Isaiah Stewart as he finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Mavericks also got production from Trey Burke as he finished with 15 points off the bench to win the game. This was a huge game for the Mavericks to win and they did it. The Mavericks have now won five of their last six games. The Mavericks finished the month of April with a record of 10-6.

The Mavericks will begin the month of May at home as they will host the Washington Wizards on Saturday at the American Airlines Center.