A team source told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Larry Brown will return to coach the Detroit Pistons this week after missing 10 games.

Brown will rejoin the team at practice Thursday, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and will be on the bench at home Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers.

``I came back too soon with the hip surgery, and I have been dealing with some things for 4 1/2 months that have been difficult for me,'' he said Tuesday.

Larry Brown is still recovering from his surgery on March 14 to correct a recurring urinary problem, and he has said that he does not feel strong enough to resume coaching. He informed the players and President Joe Dumars on Tuesday that he plans to spend the rest of this week recovering then make a decision whether or not he will return.

"I am not going to let them go very much longer (without an answer)," Brown said. "I want to get things settled. My whole thing is, I don't know if I can coach and not be healthy. I don't want to think about that (not coaching). I want to see if I can get better."

Brown's recovery is going slower than he had hoped, but it would be specific on his condition.

"It's a private thing," Brown said. "When I feel like I am well enough to coach, I am going to be back. The hardest thing is that I don't want to keep everybody in limbo. I'm trying to get well. I came back too soon with the hip surgery, and I have been dealing with some things for 4 1/2 months that's been difficult for me."

The Mavericks went into the Palace and defeated the Pistons by a final score of 95-88, an impressive road victory.

Josh Howard led Dallas with 24 points, while Dirk Nowitzki had 22 and 10.

``I'm not worried about how many points they have or what their shooting percentage was,'' new Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. ``I'm happy with the fact that we are taking teams deeper into the shot clock and making them rush shots. Earlier in the season, that didn't happen -- we were only playing defense for 12 or 14 seconds. To win, you have to play defense for the whole 24.''

Ben Wallace's 17 rebounds weren't nearly enough as the Pistons dropped their fourth game in their last five games.

Coach Larry Brown still is not ready to return to the Detroit bench following his surgery on March 14th.

Brown addressed the team on Saturday but went home afterwards, missing his eighth straight game.

"Not for a while," is what Brown told The Detroit News when asked when he expects to return.

Brown told the Pistons he was still having post-surgery complications and needed extra time to make sure he was fit to coach.

Rasheed Wallace scored seven of his season-high 31 points in the overtime period to help Detroit end a three-game losing streak with a 105-99 victory over the Celtics.

``We really needed this one after the game in Boston,'' he said. ``We couldn't let them get us twice.''

Rip Hamilton played a career-high 49 minutes, while scoring 22 points.

Boston fell to 5 1/2 games behind the Pistons for the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

``It's too late in the season to be losing like this,'' Celtics guard Gary Payton said. ``We can go from third seed to sixth or seventh in a hurry.''

Clearly November 19 is still fresh in the mind of at least some Detroit fans.

As the Indiana Pacers returned to The Palace of Auburn Hills to take on the Pistons in Detroit for the first time since the brawl, the team's preparation was interrupted as they were evacuated from their locker room.

Mark Montieth of the Indianapolis Star reports that Doreen E. Olko, Chief of Police of Auburn Hills, said a threat specific to the Pacers' locker room was phoned in to the arena's switchboard by an unknown person at 7:19 p.m., about 50 minutes before the scheduled tipoff.

The Pacers, however, said there were two threats and the team considered not playing the game.  The league, however, ordered the Pacers to take the court or forfeit the game.

NBA executive Stu Jackson told Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh in a telephone conversation that the arena was safe and that the game had to be played.

"I told (Pacers coach Rick) Carlisle that the NBA had confirmed the arena was secure," said Walsh, who was home in Indianapolis. "I told Rick, 'Go out and play the game.' "

Olko said the locker room had been searched in the morning and again in the afternoon, and that the room had been guarded by security personnel throughout the day.

"We are completely confident that the Pacers' locker room and this entire building is safe," Olko said at a news conference as the game tipped off. "If not, we wouldn't be here."

Reggie Miller, who unless the Pistons and Pacers meet in the playoffs, played his last game at the Palace was clearly annoyed with the events.

"It's unfortunate, because nothing's ever happened to the Pistons or the Palace," Miller said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it, and the league ought to be ashamed of themselves for security to be as lax as it is around here."

"We're always going to get the brunt of it, especially this year. (NBA commissioner) David Stern has to look in the mirror every morning when he wakes up (and face) the way he penalized us and the way he penalized the Pistons."

Once the game got started the night still was without incident.  During the last quarter security personnel rushed into the stands to break up a fight between fans about 30 rows up. One man was carried out by his wrists and ankles.

"Welcome to Detroit!" one fan shouted.  

For the record the Pacers won the game 94-81.

The highly anticipated matchup between Indiana and Detroit was delayed due to an apparent bomb threat.

The security level at the Palace was much higher than usual due to the brawl that occurred between these two teams earlier this season.  

Authorities continue to investigate the matter.

The Indiana Pacers first return to The Palace of Auburn Hills after November's brawl which spread into the stands has been delayed after a threat was made against the Pacers, the Pistons told ESPN.

Shortly before the scheduled 8:10 p.m. start, Palace officials told the fans that the game would be delayed "due to unforeseen circumstances." The arena was already nearly full, and fans were not evacuated. The crowd cheered when the big overhead TV screens were tuned into the Michigan State-Duke NCAA Tournament game at about 8:30 p.m.

A half-hour later, a Pistons official confirmed that the game at the Palace will be played.

The game was a blow-out from the opening minutes, as the Sixers defeated the Pistons by a final score of 107-84.  Philadelphia led by 22 points at the half.

Allen Iverson scored 39 points and had 10 assists while Andre Iguodala played 42 minutes and was in the game until the final buzzer, long enough to get 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and record the first triple-double by a rookie since Kirk Hinrich on Feb. 28, 2004.

``I knew I was playing a pretty good complete game,'' Iguodala said. ``I didn't think about it all until the fourth quarter.''

``Dre does it all for us,'' Iverson said. ``He doesn't come to the gym concentrating on one area. The scary thing is he's only a rookie.''

The loss was the second in so many days for the Pistons.

``We got in a big hole in the first quarter and you can't do that against this team,'' Pistons coach Gar Heard said. ``Once they get going, they are tough to beat.''

Richard Hamilton went down in the second half of the Pistons? Sunday victory over the Spurs with and ankle sprain that was not believed to be all that serious, however is now keeping the Pistons star guard out of the lineup.

"I sprained my right ankle my sophomore year in college, and that has been about it," said Hamilton. "I've rolled it a couple of times, but I've kept on playing and everything was all right. But this time I kept playing, and I knew something wasn't right.?

Hamilton has only missed one game this season until this latest injury.  It is not known how long he will be out.