Mavericks thwart Rockets' efforts to win
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E-mail Xinhua, December 24, 2013
The Houston Rockets lost to the Dallas Mavericks 104-111 Monday night at Toyota Center, though the host team struggled to win and played a decent NBA game.
The Rockets had a smooth opening, played good offense and led the Mavericks by 7 points in the first half. By then, the team had made 62.2 percent of their shots including 55.6 percent of their nine 3-pointers.
However, the Mavericks immediately found their stride and quickly picked up. They opened the second half on a 15-1 run and including the 90 seconds to end the first half, the Mavericks outscored the Rockets 23-3 in just five and a half minutes.
Dallas not only played well in offense but also clinched up defense. They won the third quarter 36-21 and shot 8-of-12 from downtown. The Rockets never found the defense to recover from that 12-minute outburst.
Although Houston made some run in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to six after a 3-pointer by Aaron Brooks with about 3 and a half minutes left, Dallas fought back quickly to widen the gap and won the game without much suspense.
Dirk Nowitzki led all scorers with 31 points. Monta Ellis had 18 points for Dallas, Vince Carter had 16 and Jose Calderon added 15 points with five assists.
Dwight Howard had 29 points and 15 boards while forward Chandler Parsons chipped in 21 points for Houston. Jeremy Lin scored 20 points on his return from back spasms and Aaron Brooks added 18. James Harden remained off court with a sprained ankle.
The win helped Dallas improve to 16-12 while Houston is 18-11 on the season.
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