October 31st, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Any other season, the Houston Rockets‘ main tag team would be Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady; this season may be a bit different with the team’s acquisition of forward Ron Artest. Ming and Artest made quite the duo Thursday night as the Dallas Mavericks hosted the Rockets; both combined for 59 points, including a 16-2 run late in the fourth quarter, leading Houston past Dallas 112-102.
Things didn’t exactly go well for the Mavericks as they had three turnovers and 3 fouls in the game’s first 2 minutes; despite that hiccup, they shot relatively well as they stayed close with only a 3-point deficit going into halftime 62-59. Dallas managed to get to within 8 in the final minutes of the game, then Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki blocked a layup by the Rockets’ Aaron Brooks; however, Nowitzki missed a 12-footer which sealed the win for the Rockets.
High scorer for the Rockets was Ming with 30 points, along with 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots while Artest added 29 (including 3 treys) with 7 rebounds and a steal; McGrady contributed 16 with 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. Dallas’ leading scorer was Nowitzki with 36 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks while Josh Howard added 28 with 11 rebounds, 4 assists and a blocked shot; Jason Terry came off the bench to score 15 with 4 assists and a blocked shot. Houston (2-0) looks to extend their winning streak to 3 as they play again on Saturday when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder while Dallas (0-1) flies to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves – also on Saturday night.
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