AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – If Avery Johnson needs a blueprint on the sort of defense he wants his Dallas Mavericks to play, he can show them the tape of Sunday's game.

Unfortunately for Johnson, it was the Detroit Pistons dishing out that D.

The Mavericks' trip through the Eastern Conference's best teams keeps getting worse. The Pistons clamped down with a physical defense and never unlocked the pressure, humiliating the Mavericks, 90-67, at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Cold and bleak was the forecast in the Detroit area Sunday, but the Mavericks didn't really think that was going to be their fate.

This was the sort of game that begged for a punchline. Something like their troubles being so extensive that it might take a lot more than a Jason Kidd infusion to fix things, at least on this trip.

The Mavericks lost their second in a row, following a tough defeat at Boston by barely showing up against the Pistons. They will try to avoid a sweep by East divisional leaders when they visit Orlando tonight.

It will take more punch than they were able to deliver Sunday as a national television audience probably started clicking over to the Super Bowl pregame show before the third quarter was over. By then, the Mavericks were down 66-51, and Rasheed Wallace was having his way with them.

When Wallace posted up Dirk Nowitzki with just over a minute left in the third quarter, he rose up as he did all afternoon and dropped in a 12-foot jumper.

Afterward, he turned to the Mavericks' bench and yelled: "He can't guard me."

And truer words were never spoken. The Pistons avenged a 16-point Mavericks' win in Dallas earlier this season.

"We really took it to them in Dallas and got whatever we wanted," Nowitzki said. "They responded the right way. They didn't give us anything easy all night long.

"In the Boston game, we were right there. Today, we just got blown out."

The Mavericks should have known early that they were in trouble. They missed 16 consecutive shots bridging the first and second quarters. Somehow, they were down six after shooting 5-of-25 in the first period.

They were within 56-51 with just over four minutes left in the third quarter. They scored 16 points the rest of the way, putting a cap on their worst offensive output of the season, along with their worst shooting game, 30.3 percent, and their fewest field goals made, 23.

Wallace had said before the game that the way to beat Dallas is to "take them down on the chop blocks." That means to make them pay on the low post, which was what he and the Pistons did throughout a thorough drop-kicking.

It's clear the Mavericks' offense is sputtering without Devin Harris. But his return is probably still two weeks away.

"Forget about who we're missing," Johnson said. "They bodied up, and we made them pay in the first half. As the game went on, we just started to shoot jump shots. That's our M.O. as the game wears on, and I've got to do a better job of reminding them in those situations."

AP

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki scored just 15 points on 3-of-18 shooting on Sunday.

The Pistons, of course, are one of the East's heavyweights. But that doesn't excuse the Mavericks' outrageous lack of execution. They had 11 assists, their season low and a sure sign that ball movement was lacking.

Detroit hounded Nowitzki, and nobody could pick up the slack. Nowitzki had 13 points at halftime. He had two after halftime, shooting 3-of-18 for the game.

Wallace had 21 points and nine rebounds, and Tayshaun Prince had 16 points, making every shot he took – four from the field and eight from the line.

Brandon Bass had 14 points off the bench for the Mavericks, but he was the only reserve who scored until a game-finishing 3-pointer by J.J. Barea.

Essentially, the Mavericks got whacked every way possible. But the bright side is that they're learning from the losses, Josh Howard said.

"Yeah, learning not to lose," he said.