Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons with 28 points, and Will Bynum had 27, including 17 in the fourth quarter.

"Stuckey was phenomenal and Will gave us a lot off the bench," Kuester said. "We're disappointed that we lost a game like this, but these guys gave it everything."

The Pistons led late in the third quarter, but a turnover let the Mavericks get back-to-back dunks at the end of the period for 71-66.

Detroit tied it at 78 with 6 minutes left, but Nowitzki answered with a three-point play. After Charlie Villaneuva made a free throw for Detroit, Nowitzki made a jumper and Jason Terry hit a 3-pointer to give the Mavericks a 86-79 lead with 4:21 left.

Nowitzki added a running jumper with 35.3 seconds left, but Bynum's jumper and Terry's miss gave the Pistons the ball with 5.7 seconds left, down 93-90. Gordon, though, finished his horrible night by missing an off-balance jumper.

"We were paying attention to him, but that's a shot he usually makes," Carlisle said. "We were fortunate to get the win, but we worked for it."

Notes

The game was Detroit's third straight against one of its former coaches - Charlotte's Larry Brown, Washington's Flip Saunders and Carlisle. ... Stuckey injured his ankle on Terry's fourth-quarter 3-pointer and did not return. Kuester said that Stuckey offered to come back for the final play, but the coaches decided to be cautious. ... Pistons rookie Jonas Jerebko, the NBA's first Swedish player, got a post-game visit from Detroit's favorite Swedish athlete - Red Wings captain Nick Lidstrom.