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Mavericks look to continue home dominance over Bulls

Feb 25, 2008 - 3:44 PM Chicago (22-33) at Dallas (37-19) 8:30 pm EST

DALLAS (Ticker) -- Jason Kidd hopes to guide the Dallas Mavericks in a season-series sweep of the Chicago Bulls on Monday.

In their first meeting, Josh Howard and All-Star Dirk Nowitzki combined to score 52 points in Dallas' 103-98 victory over the Bulls on December 3 in Chicago.

The Mavs haven't had much trouble at home in this series, as they have registered an impressive 9-1 record here since the 1997-98 season, with the last setback coming on February 5, 2005.

Dallas is coming off its second straight win with Sunday's 99-83 triumph over the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves behind the efforts of Nowitzki, who had 29 points.

After struggling in his first outing with the Mavs, Kidd has put together two stellar outings by dishing 32 assists through that stretch.

"He makes some passes and you think in no way will it get there," Nowitzki said. "Somehow, he finds a way. It's fun."

Despite having its new acquisitions on the floor, Chicago came out on the short end of a disappointing 110-97 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday.

Larry Hughes scored 13 points and Drew Gooden had 12 and eight rebounds in their Bulls debut. The duo, along with Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons, came over on Thursday's trade deadlines in part of a three-team trade involving Cleveland and Seattle.