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The teams that hook up tonight at American Airlines Center are a combined 49-19, have three appearances in the NBA Finals in the last four seasons and one owns a title.
And neither is being given much chance to become champion this season.
The Detroit Pistons are in much the same position as the Dallas Mavericks. They are good. Very good, most would agree. But they are an afterthought in the Eastern Conference because Kevin Garnett and Boston are the hottest item since Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo, although Romo might disagree.
The Celtics are most people's favorite to win the East.
Similarly, the Mavericks (23-11) are rolling along with four consecutive wins and have climbed back near the top of the Western Conference standings.
And, still, it's San Antonio and Phoenix that are all the rage.
"They're a little different because they won a championship," Avery Johnson said of the Pistons. "Maybe this year, they're a little [like us] because everybody's focusing on Boston.
"We don't necessarily want to be underdogs. We didn't come here to be an underdog. We came here to be one of the elite teams and a favorite. But this year, because of some other teams and the progress they've made, we've been kind of positioned in that role where we're not being talked about as much."
That applies to both teams tonight.
The Pistons make their only appearance at AAC, coming off a loss to the Celtics in Detroit. Before that, they won 11 in a row, including a game at Boston.
That didn't shake the foundation in the East, however. As Boston rolls along at 29-3, everything else pales in comparison.
"I don't think we can control any of that," said Jerry Stackhouse, who played for the Pistons for five seasons through 2002. "Teams have gotten off to hot starts. San Antonio got off to a hot start and then cooled off a little bit. Phoenix made some moves in the off-season that everybody was kind of excited about. And obviously, with Garnett going to Boston and them getting off to the start they have, some of the talk is due.
"But at the same time, we still look at Detroit as the cream of the crop in the Eastern Conference. And I'm pretty sure they don't look past us as being one of the top teams in the West."
Indeed, this should be a tasty match, even if it is between two teams that – rightly or not – consider themselves in underdog roles.
The Pistons, Johnson said, have been as consistent as any team in the league over the last five or six seasons. They have the clear second-best record in the East (26-8). While the Celtics are the trendy pick, the Pistons have plenty of reasons to feel like they are on equal footing.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, are embracing the underdog role, even though they are 3-2 against the Spurs, Suns and New Orleans, the three teams that are neck and neck at the top of the West standings.
But they also know that whatever role they have now will change soon enough.
"Ultimately, it all comes down to the playoffs, so whatever we do in the regular season, nobody's going to believe in us anyway," Dirk Nowitzki said. "So we just focus on ourselves and trying to get better from month to month and be the best team we can be in the playoffs.
"But we approached every game like that last year, too. We want to win and play our style of basketball. So I don't think it's anything different for us as players. I wouldn't say that at all."