La Informacion De La Pelea De Arroyo

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The Pistons' Carlos Arroyo confronts the Mavs' Dirk Nowitzki after what Arroyo perceived as a hard foul. Arroyo was later ejected.


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ARROYO FUMES



Carlos Arroyo was giving up nearly a foot in height to Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, but he wasn't backing off one inch when the two tangled under the basket with 4:40 left in the second quarter Thursday.

Arroyo, who was having his best quarter of the exhibition season (eight points, three assists), took a hard foul from Nowitzki under the basket. Nowitzki seemed to throw an elbow at Arroyo, which missed.

Arroyo retaliated by sticking his finger in Nowitzki's face.

The two were quickly separated, but Arroyo kept up the tussle with another 7-footer, Erick Dampier.

Arroyo and Nowitzki each was assessed a technical foul. Arroyo was then ejected, picking up a second technical for carrying on with Dampier.

"I told him you can never do that," coach Flip Saunders said. "You get one tech and you step back, especially if you are playing that position (point guard). It's important to stay in the game."

Saunders was hoping to rest Chauncey Billups, who wound up playing 28 minutes, with Acker finishing the game.

"It's tough to think about what this means for the team when you are mad like that," Billups said. "I don't know what happened, but I am sure he had his reasons. He didn't do it because he just felt like he wanted to get into it. But I am with him. I don't care what happened. If he felt like that, I felt like that."

Although the fracas took place in front of the Pistons bench, nobody came off the bench to get involved. Had they done so, they would have been suspended for one game.

"I am pretty sure we learned that lesson last year," said Billups, referring to the Nov. 19 brawl at The Palace.

As for the game, the Mavericks, playing their regulars, scored 58 second-half points, playing mostly against Pistons reserves. The Pistons led by 10 in the first half and by as many as 13 in the third quarter before they went to the bench.

Richard Hamilton had 18 points in 25 minutes. Darko Milicic had seven points, six blocks and three rebounds. Rookie Jason Maxiell scored 10 points in seven minutes.