Battle of the best takes place in Auburn Hills

The Central Division-champion Pistons, who own the top seed in the Eastern Conference, had a 16-game home winning streak stopped on Sunday against the New Jersey Nets.

Richard Hamilton scored 19 points in the 79-74 setback for Detroit, which had a four-game win streak stopped. Tayshaun Prince and Tony Delk each scored 12 points, while Chauncey Billups posted just nine points, all in the fourth quarter.

Detroit will wrap up a small two-game homestand against Dallas and is 30-3 at The Palace this season.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks will continue a four-game road trip in the Motor City. They are tied with San Antonio for the top spot in the Western Conference and Southwest Division.

They opened the trip with a 98-83 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday at Philips Arena. Dirk Nowitzki posted a double-double with 27 points and 13 rebounds, while Jason Terry had 26 points.

Jerry Stackhouse contributed 16 points for Dallas, which has won two of its last three contests. The Mavs improved to 24-10 away from home and will visit Cleveland and Orlando to finish the road trip.

Dallas is 3-1 in its last four road games and leads the season series with Detroit, 1-0, after posting a 119-82 win on November 19 in Texas.

The Mavericks have won two in a row, three of four and five of the last seven versus Detroit.

Dallas also has won two of its last three trips to Detroit.