The Houston Rockets visited the American Airlines Center in Dallas today to challenge the Dallas Mavericks led by Nowitzki and Kidd. The home team's Josh Howard has recovered from his injury and started for the second game in a row, while T-Mac of the visiting team continued to sit out. The Rockets had a perfect start, leading by 9 points in the first quarter, but the opponents, led by Nowitzki, gradually narrowed the gap and took the lead, ending up leading the Rockets by 9 points before the end of the third quarter! The Rockets, starting strong but finishing weak, were ultimately unable to turn the tide, losing to the Mavericks 103-121, thus losing their position as the leader of the Southwest Division. The Rockets now have a total record of 4 wins and 3 losses, while the Mavericks have 5 wins and 2 losses.