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Mavs hope to continue recent dominance of Rockets

Feb 15, 2007 - 2:33 PM Dallas (43-9) at Houston (33-18) 8:00 pm EST

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Dallas Mavericks aim to continue their recent dominance of the Houston Rockets when the Southwest Division rivals meet on Thursday.

Dallas has won six of the last seven meetings from the Rockets, who are 6-19 against the Mavericks since March 2001.

Dallas rallied from a 16-point deficit in a 99-93 win at Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 38 points, hauled in 11 rebounds and handed out a career high-tying eight assists for the Mavs, who have won nine straight and 16 of their last 17 contests. Josh Howard had 15 points and eight boards and Jerry Stackhouse added 13 points off the bench.

Houston defeated the Sacramento Kings, 109-104 in overtime here on Tuesday. Tracy McGrady scored 28 points and dished out 12 assists for the Rockets, who withstood a career high-tying 39 point effort by Ron Artest.

Shane Battier had 25 points and Rafer Alston added 18, including 4-of-7 from the arc for Houston, which has won eight of its last 10 games.

The Rockets also improved to 17-7 since losing center Yao Ming to a broken right tibia on December 23.