The Dallas Mavericks (40 - 38) defeated the Houston Rockets (38 - 40) 88 - 86 on Wednesday. In what was a pseudo playoff game, the hotter team escaped with a win. This now gives Dallas their fifth - straight win and gives Houston their eighth loss in their last 13 games. The second quarter was when the Mavericks made their mark, as they outscored the Rockets 34 to 22. Dallas also turned on their defense in the fourth quarter, as they held the Rockets to 15 points, with only three of those coming from players other than James Harden. The Rockets fought hard in this game, but couldn’t quite escape with a crucial win. Harden struggled for the first three quarters, but scored 12 in the fourth to cap off a 26 - point performance. The rest of the team really struggled though, as they went 1 - for - 11 in the final 12 minutes. Dwight Howard had a nice game as well though, as he scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. The Rockets have a short turnaround, as they play the Phoenix Suns on Thursday in a must win game. Dallas had ugly stretches throughout this game and narrowly escaped with a huge win. J.J. Barea once again led the team with 27 points to mark his fourth - straight 20 - point game. He also dished out eight assists and grabbed five rebounds in an all around great performance. Wesley Matthews scored 16 of his own, while locking down Harden for long stretches of this game. On deck for Dallas is a matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.
["TeamStat(G,'Mavericks') has 38 Losses ,has 88 Total points ,has 34 Points in 1st quarter ,has 40 Points in 2nd quarter ."
 "TeamStat(G,'Rockets') has 40 Losses ,has 86 Total points ,has 22 Points in 1st quarter ,has 22 Points in 2nd quarter ,has 15 Points in 4th quarter ,has 38 Wins ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Dwight Howard') has 14 Assists ,has 16 Field goals attempted ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'James Harden') has 26 Assists ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Wesley Matthews') has 16 Assists ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'J.J. Barea') has 8 Assists ,has 16 Field goals attempted ,has 27 Points ,has 5 Total rebounds ."]