Well, the Pistons' streak is now over, and boy, did it ever come to a screeching halt. The Mavericks won on Saturday night by a score of 119-82. Detroit got shellacked.

The good news, of course, is that the huge loss allowed our man Darko Milicic to get a fair bit of playing time, which is almost more important than the actual outcome of the game. Mr. Milicic got something more than five minutes in during the first half, when the Motowners were still in the game, and something more than ten minutes in near the end of the game, when all hope had been lost, for a total of just about sixteen minutes.

Darko had a fairly unremarkable game this time around, going 2 for 4 from the field for four points, blocking a shot, and picking up four fouls. One thing about Darko is that he seems to be able to pick up those PFs in a hurry. Anyway, the important thing is that he got a a bit of a run in. Extended stretches of playing time are always welcome in Darko Nation.

Meanwhile, the Dikembe-Darko confrontation from Friday night has been mentioned in a few papers, including the Dallas Morning News, and Darko seems to be getting some props for not backing down from Motumbo. Here is the blurb from the Detroit News:

The Pistons were impressed with Darko Milicic on Friday. In the second quarter,
he got entangled with Dikembe Mutombo. Mutombo stuck a finger in Milicic's face.
Milicic never backed off. He then went on to block two shots, one of them
Mutombo's. "I'm telling you, Darko is a Serbian gangster," Rasheed Wallace said.
"Darko's got some bodies back there (in Serbia-Montenegro). He can go psycho on
guys."

Keep it up, Darko!