Marty Turco picked a great time to get his first NHL win at Joe Louis Arena.

Turco stopped 38 shots and used his passing to set up both Dallas goals as the Stars stayed alive in the Western Conference Finals with a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Turco had been 0-9-2 at “The Joe” since turning pro in 2000-01. But he was even sharper than he had been Thursday night, when he stopped 33 of 34 shots in a season-extending 3-1 victory in Game 4.

• NHL.com - Recap

The Phoenix Suns have begun their coaching search in earnest by interviewing Detroit Pistons assistant coach Terry Porter.

Suns president Steve Kerr told ESPN.com that he flew in and out of Detroit on Thursday to meet with Porter, his former teammate for two seasons in San Antonio.

Pistons assistant Terry Porter coached the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons.

Porter, who posted a 71-92 record in a two-season stint as Milwaukee’s head coach from 2003-05, is believed to the first to formally meet with the Suns.

• ESPN - Kerr flies to Detroit to interview Porter for Suns’ coaching job - NBA

Once again, as manager Jim Leyland put it, the Tigers had some bad combinations going. A three-run deficit after one inning — for a team that talked beforehand about not pressing — was a new one.

Detroit’s offense finally picked up on Thursday after a 17-inning scoreless streak, but four runs weren’t enough. After Tigers starters had held Kansas City to five runs over the first two games of the series, Kenny Rogers suffered one of his worst outings as a Tiger, allowing seven runs over four innings as Detroit fell to an 8-4 loss Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

• The Official Site of The Detroit Tigers: News: Detroit Tigers News

Pistons guard Chauncey Billups is done sitting.

Billups, who has missed nearly three playoff games with a strained right hamstring, said Thursday he’s ready to play again.

Billups practiced almost up to capacity with the team.

“It’s just good to be out there,” Billups said. “My full-out sprint is not where I want it to be, but it’s not like I’m that fast anyways.”

• Pistons’ Billups says he’s ready to play

Gary Sheffield’s inability to make strong throws from the outfield has caused Tigers manager Jim Leyland to curtail plans to play him regularly in left field.

“His shoulder is not right and it’s not making it better playing in the outfield,” Leyland said Wednesday. “By his own admission he can only lob the ball in.

“It’s a very awkward situation with no one to blame. A couple times (Tuesday night) he did not play catch between innings.”

He said placing Sheffield on the disabled list has been discussed, but it was decided to simply hold him out of the outfield for now and see if the shoulder improves.

• Tigers pull Sheffield from left until shoulder heals - Detroit Tigers Baseball: News, Blogs, Photos, Audio, Schedule & Stats - MLive.com

If the old Sparky Anderson line of thought holds that a team can’t be fairly judged until the 40-game mark, then now is the time for the Tigers to worry.

They could still have a chance to be a good team, and manager Jim Leyland believes they can be, but their 40th game — a 2-0 loss to the Royals Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium — showed many of the same struggles from most of the first 39 contests.

“For most of the year, we’ve had combinations where you lose,” Leyland said. “It’s just all the combinations that lead to losing.”

• The Official Site of The Detroit Tigers: News: Detroit Tigers News

It’s still hockey season in Dallas, at least for another couple of days. Mike Modano and Marty Turco made sure of that.

Modano scored the tie-breaking goal early in the third period and Turco made 33 saves as the Stars stayed alive in the Western Conference Finals with a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 4 on Wednesday night.

• NHL.com - Recap

Edgar Renteria nearly came up with a piece of defensive wizardry. Instead, it ended up being another piece of the Tigers’ cursed season.

“You take a chance,” Renteria said after his missed flip led to the go-ahead run Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Royals.

• The Official Site of The Detroit Tigers: News: Detroit Tigers News

The Detroit Pistons missed 64 percent of their shots and had a rookie filling in for an All-Star at point guard.

It didn’t matter.

Detroit set an NBA playoff record with just three turnovers and made just enough shots and stops to advance to their sixth straight Eastern Conference final with a 91-86 win Tuesday night over the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the second-round series.

• NBA.com Hamilton’s 16 Free Throws, 31 Points Lead Detroit