Another game, another night when the Mavericks looked better than they have all season.

But it wasn't the strong-defending, hot-shooting, on-a-roll Mavericks Avery Johnson was happy to see.

It was the check-your-feelings-at-the-door Mavericks that he wanted to see.

And that's exactly what he got as they took on one of the Eastern Conference bullies and didn't need any bodyguards, bashing the Detroit Pistons, 102-86, Wednesday night at American Airlines Center for their fifth consecutive victory.

"This is a tough team to play against," Johnson said. "You got to bring your hard hat. You can't bring your pacifier. This game tonight is not for whiners. I thought our guys didn't complain and focused on the game plan on both ends."

Mission accomplished. It was the Mavericks who looked like beasts and the Pistons who ran for cover early after falling behind by double figures in the first quarter and never getting closer than 14 points in the fourth quarter.

It's not a stretch to say the Mavericks are on a roll after their wipeout win. That it came against the Pistons, who had won 11 games in a row before losing to Boston and now the Mavericks, was uplifting. They are a lukewarm 9-6 against the Eastern Conference.

"I would say a lot of the Eastern teams have gotten better," Johnson said. "We haven't won as many close games. We weren't playing very good early in the year when we played a lot of those teams and we paid the price for it."

Perhaps all of that is true, but none of it applied Wednesday night. Dirk Nowitzki was superb again with 23 points and nine rebounds. He got excellent support from Devin Harris (19 points) and Jason Terry (15), who were alternated at point guard as much as they have been all season, rather than seeing a lot of time on the court together.

The Mavericks also shot well, hitting 10-of-16 3-pointers, which makes everything look better, of course. But the shots they took were mostly clear looks.

"We tried to get points in the paint," Johnson said. "We had a stretch where we shot some 3s, and we needed to take those. They were wide-open. But it was set up by us getting to the paint on penetrations."

Which was yet another example of the Mavericks not backing down from a team known for its strength and toughness.

"We're not the soft team everybody expects us to be," Harris said.

Added Josh Howard: "We're just playing our style. If it's fighting through screens and going hard for rebounds, we're doing that. You can call it toughness. But more than anything we're just playing as a unit."

About the only Piston who posed a problem for the Mavericks was Walter Herrmann, the Argentinean who had not played in the previous two games before Wednesday. The lanky, pony-tailed Herrmann played sticky defense against Nowitzki, who had hit 5-of-7 shots in the first quarter but missed both of his tries in the second quarter, when he was scoreless and the Mavericks' lead shriveled to 48-43.

There was good news, though, for the Mavericks. Erick Dampier returned from a swollen left knee that cost him two games. And Jerry Stackhouse, who missed a game with a hyperextended right thumb, hit five of his first eight shots to prove all was well.

But it was the point-guard tandem that broke the game open.

Harris had pulled off a gorgeous crossover dribble for a dunk, wheeling around Rasheed Wallace like the big man was standing still, which, by the way, he was.

But Harris ran into problems on ensuing possessions and Johnson yanked him with 6:24 left in the third quarter. In came Terry, who quickly threw in a pair of 3-pointers as the lead jumped to 65-51, a cushion the Mavericks would protect through the end of the period.

And Harris did his part, returning from the bench for a three-point play, which by the way, was the mode of scoring for the Mavericks in the third frame.

They were 6-for-8 from 3-point range in the quarter and were shooting 54 percent through three quarters, which pretty much made them unbeatable to that point. And, most importantly to Johnson, they didn't take any guff.

"We wanted to be tough-minded on both ends of the floor, and I think we've been doing a good job of that recently compared to earlier in the season," he said.