Mavericks over Houston 111-106

The Dallas Mavericks got off to a fast start and kept going for their victory over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night at the American Airlines Center.  With the win, Dallas improved to 2-0 against Houston this season. The Mavericks have now won 14 of their last 18 home meetings with the Rockets. Overall, Dallas has taken 16 of the last 21 matchups with Houston. The two teams split the season series (2-2) in 2009-10.

Dallas went 26-of-48 (.542) from the field en route to a season-high 64 first-half points, eclipsing the previous mark of 57 set in Orlando on January 8.  It is the first time this season the Mavericks scored 30 or more points in back-to-back quarters: the first (33) and second (31).  The Mavericks were helped from their free-throw shooting, where they shot 23-of-25 (.920).

Tyson Chandler recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 21 points (5-8 FGs, 11-12 FTs) and 15 rebounds. He’s now tied or set a season-high in scoring in each of his last three contests. He’s shot 17-of-24 (.708) from the field and is averaging 20.3 points per game over his last three games. He’s also made 11-plus free throws in both of his last two games (11-11 FTs vs. LAC 1/25/11).   Jason Kidd joined Chandler with a double-double (11 pts, 10 assists).

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (23.3 ppg) and Rockets guard Kevin Martin (23.2) entered Thursday’s game ranked 10th and 11th in the league in scoring, respectively. Nowitzki tallied 18 points, while Martin finished with 27 points.

Mavericks guard J.J. Barea went 8-of-10 from the field en route to 19 points on Thursday. He’s shooting 77.3 percent (17-of-22) from the floor and is averaging 22.0 points per game over his last two games.

The Mavericks next game is vs. Atlanta on Jan. 29