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Division foes square off as Rockets visit Mavericks

Oct 30, 2008 - 10:25 AM Houston (1-0) at Dallas, 8:00 p.m. EDT

DALLAS (Ticker) -- The Dallas Mavericks become one of the final two teams to start the 2008-09 season on Thursday as they play host to Southwest Division rival Houston Rockets.

The Mavericks are coming off their second first-round playoff exit in a row, and have spent the fall breaking in a new head coach and a new system after Avery Johnson's firing in April. Rick Carlisle, a former NBA Coach of the Year who has five playoff appearances in six career seasons as a coach, makes his debut against a club he will be seeing a lot of this year.

The Rockets went for broke this offseason on their quest for a championship by bringing in embattled defensive specialist Ron Artest to team with All-Stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. The trio did most of the team's damage in their season opener on Wednesday, combining for 53 points in Houston's 82-71 triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Rockets' signature defense was clearly on display, as they forced 16 turnovers and held the Grizzlies without a 3-pointer on 13 attempts. However, they had offensive struggles of their own, shooting just 37 percent (28-of-76) from the field.

Both the Rockets and Mavericks are trying to keep up in a league that has started to pass them by over the last two seasons. Dallas has eight consecutive seasons of 50 wins or more and Houston has made the postseason four of the last five years. But neither has had quite enough - and the Western Conference has only gotten stronger.

The Mavericks have dominated this series lately, having won 10 of the last 12 regular-season meetings. They also met in the first round of the 2005 playoffs, with Dallas prevailing in a seven-game series. While the Mavericks advanced to the NBA Finals a year later, the Rockets have been stuck in place. The franchise has not advanced past the first round since 1997.