Mavs Lose To Rockets
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DALLAS — If Thursday night’s matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets served as a first-round playoff preview, then let the postseason begin.
The in-state rivals haven’t faced off in the playoffs since the Mavericks won a memorable seven-game series in 2005.
A decade later, Dallas is virtually locked into the No. 7 seed, and Houston, with a 108-101 comeback victory at American Airlines Center, took another step toward finishing with the No. 2 seed in the tough Western Conference.
The recent history between the clubs is certainly intriguing, with Houston holding off Dallas to acquire center Dwight Howard two summers ago and then the Mavericks practically stealing forward Chandler Parsons away from the Rockets with a lucrative contract offer last summer.
The player the Rockets signed in free agency to replace Parsons, forward Trevor Ariza, made two free throws with 23.5 seconds to give him 19 points and seal the win.
Parsons didn’t finish the game, leaving late in the third quarter with a
sore right knee after scoring 11 points, including three 3-pointers. The severity of his injury, a worrisome development to be sure, wasn’t known after the game.
“He tried to go in the second half. I’m not exactly sure what had happened,” Carlisle said. “It was more noticeable after the game (at Oklahoma City on Wednesday) night. He tried to go today. He gave it a real shot. He just wasn’t moving right and he was having some discomfort, so we pulled him.”
After the game, Parsons told ESPNDallas.com: “It’s pretty swollen and sore behind the knee. It’s been sore for a few days now, but I thought I could get through tonight.”
Houston (52-24) won the season series 3-1, with all three victories coming by seven points or fewer.
Dallas (46-30) led 72-61 with 5:01 to go in the third quarter, and Houston looked to be losing a step. That was when former Mavs forward Corey Brewer hopped off the bench and changed the flow of the game with his relentless energy.
Brewer scored six points in the third quarter and eight in the fourth, and he finished with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. He was one of five Rockets players to score in double figures.
“I thought Brew came out running in the second half,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “He really gave us big energy in the third quarter and kind of got us going. Trev (Ariza) hit some big shots, we all had some good stops, and so it was a hell of a win. We had a lot of ups and downs in that game. We got down, they made runs, we came back, they made runs, we came back, and we kind of made the run and got ourselves a little separation.”
Rockets guard James Harden led all players with 24 points, hitting 10 of 12 from the free-throw line to offset a tough shooting night, particularly from deep, where he was just 2-for-8. He hit six of 15 shots from the floor overall.
Howard returned to the lineup and found little rhythm offensively but managed eight points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes.
Houston forward Josh Smith played a key role, scoring 15 points, grabbing 12 rebounds, hitting two 3-pointers and going 5-for-5 from the foul line, where he is shooting 50 percent this season.
Dallas continues to find some consistency as a unit before the start of the playoffs. It got past Oklahoma City on Wednesday, but a season-long problem — rebounding — killed the Mavericks against the Rockets, who won the battle of the boards 55-41, including 17-9 on the offensive glass.
After leading 83-77 entering the fourth quarter, Dallas shot just 26.3 percent, making five field goals, while getting outrebounded by 10.
“The fourth quarter doomed us,” Carlisle said.
Forward Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 21 points. Guard Monta Ellis had 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting from the field, and forward Amar’e Stoudemire matched Chandler with 11 points.
Mavericks point guard Rajon Rondo played only seven minutes in the second half, a coach’s decision, according to Carlisle, who said he felt the team needed more scoring in the game. Rondo finished with eight points and six assists.
“One thing they really did (is) they really came in and (in) the fourth quarter they really jelled and really moved the ball well and got up and down and got fouls,” McHale said. “James (Harden) was attacking, guys made shots (and) Jet (Terry) made a big right corner three.”
Terry, another former Mavs player and key member of the 2011 championship team, finished with 10 points.
Looking ahead to a potential postseason meeting, Mavs center Tyson Chandler said, “I would like our chances in the series. I felt like tonight was a very winnable game. I felt like if we stuck to our strategy, we would have come out with a win.”
