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Harris spoils McGrady's return as Mavs edge Rockets

Nov 22, 2007 - 5:08 AM By Gene Duffey PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) - They call Devin Harris "The Blur" for a reason.

One of the fastest players in the league, Harris scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as the Dallas Mavericks rallied for a 100-94 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.

Josh Howard poured in 20 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 18 and 14 rebounds for Dallas, which extended its winning streak to five games.

The win also spoiled the return of Houston's Tracy McGrady, who was sidelined for two games after hyperextending his right elbow against the Los Angeles Lakers last Wednesday. He registered 15 points, 12 assists and seven boards.

"Throughout the game, I lost feeling in two of my fingers," McGrady said. "That was bothering me all night, but I still played."

In the fourth, Houston pushed its lead to 91-86 on Yao Ming's free throw after Harris' flagrant foul on the 7-6 All-Star center with 1:39 remaining.

But the speedy Harris then took over, feeding Jerry Stackhouse for a 3-pointer from the right corner and converting a critical three-point play by blowing past Yao as Dallas grabbed its first lead of the game at 92-91 with 34 seconds left.

"That was the play, to go at Yao," Harris said. "Isolate him and attack him. Obviously, I think I can beat him to the basket."

"He's unbelievable, the way he sets the tone for us," Stackhouse said of Harris. "When we get down, sometimes we just get out of the way and let him take guys to the basket."

Houston was never able to regain the lead as Stackhouse nailed key free throws in the waning seconds.

It was the second impressive come-from-behind win for the Mavericks, who erased a 24-point deficit to beat Toronto at home on Tuesday.

"Obviously, we're a veteran team and we don't get discouraged easily," Harris said.

"You don't really want to put yourself in that position all the time," Nowitzki said. "It puts a lot of pressure on you. The fourth quarter we kept on fighting. Our defense was good."

Harris' coast-to-coast layup with 6:48 remaining in the fourth helped cap an impressive 18-7 run as Dallas sliced the deficit to 83-80. Harris and reserve Brandon Bass combined for 14 of those points.

"This team is tough mentally," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "I love back-to-back games. It shows how tough you are. If we hadn't won this game, I would been proud of the team for coming back."

Yao collected 30 points and 15 rebounds to lead the way for the Rockets, who dropped a 107-98 decision to the Mavs earlier this month on the road.

"We made mistakes again," Yao said. "They had a small lineup and we didn't play enough good basketball to win the game. In the last minute and 40 seconds we turned the ball over."

Stackhouse was called for a technical foul with 6:18 left in the third quarter that Yao converted into a free throw. Yao then hit a 12-footer and McGrady added a jumper from out front for a 65-51 bulge.