Lowry lifts Rockets to OT win at Dallas

DALLAS — A second-quarter collision between Dallas star Dirk
Nowitzki and Houston’s Carl Landry knocked both players out of
the game.

The trade-off worked out in the Rockets’ favor.

Kyle Lowry came off the bench for a career-high 26 points and 10
assists, and the Rockets took advantage of the second-half
absence of Dallas’ top scorer to beat the Mavericks 116-108 in
overtime Friday night.

Aaron Brooks added 25 points, nine in overtime, and Luis Scola
contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds to help the Rockets end
the Mavericks’ five-game winning streak.

The Rockets wasted a 10-point lead over the final three minutes
of regulation, but they regained their focus in overtime and
went on to win for the fourth time in six games.

“We were on a low going into the overtime,” Brooks said. “The
teams that have momentum normally win overtime, but we did a
great job of regrouping and playing through our mistakes. We
made a lot of mistakes in that fourth quarter, but luckily we
came out with the victory.”

J.J. Barea matched his season high with 23 points, and Josh
Howard and Shawn Marion each had 17 points for the Mavericks.

Landry was taken to an emergency room for treatment after
breaking several teeth in a second-quarter collision near the
basket with Nowitzki.

Nowitzki drove into the lane and missed a short jumper with 9:28
left before halftime. He was fouled by Landry, who was hit in
the mouth by Nowitzki’s elbow.

Before going to the locker room for X-rays and stitches to close
a cut on his right elbow, Nowitzki, who is right-handed, made
one of the two free throws he shot with his left.

The Mavericks listed Nowitzki as questionable for Sunday night’s
home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Landry, who started the night averaging 16.6 points, scored two
points in seven minutes and is day-to-day.

“Carl is our big guy off the bench and he wasn’t here tonight,”
Lowry said. “Hopefully all’s well with him, but that’s what our
team is, we’re a complete team. We don’t have the superstar
name…”

Dallas’ Jason Kidd and Andersen were both assessed technical
fouls after exchanging shoves with 6:53 left. Mavericks coach
Rick Carlisle was also assessed a technical on the play, and
Lowry connected on the free throw to cap an 8-0 run that gave
the Rockets an 89-81 lead.

Erick Dampier of the Mavericks also received a technical with
4:35 remaining, and Lowry’s free throw extended Houston’s edge
to 95-85. Nowitzki, who leads the Mavs with 26.9 points a game,
was finished after scoring five points in 10 minutes.

With Nowitzki out, the Mavericks lacked a go-to scorer in
overtime.

“When a big star like Dirk is out, we’ve got to step up and we
didn’t do a good job of that,” Barea said.

Brooks’ 3-pointer with 3:18 left in overtime gave Houston the
lead for good, 106-104. Lowry added a pair of free throws and
Brooks hit a short jumper with 1:19 remaining to extend the
advantage to 110-104.

“It was a perfect win on the road for us, with everything that
went on,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “Our guys struggled
at the end of regulation, but they had a nice overtime, so it
was a really good win.”

Dallas pulled to 99-97 with 1:00 remaining in regulation on
Marion’s layup.

Brooks converted one of two free throws with 19 seconds left to
give the Rockets a 100-97 edge, but Tim Thomas’ 3-pointer out of
the left corner with 10.5 seconds in regulation tied it for the
Mavericks.

Brooks drove hard to the basket for the win in regulation, but
he lost the ball out of bounds with less than a second left.
Marion’s attempt to score off an alley-oop inbound pass fell
short at the regulation buzzer.

“We went down fighting,” Marion said. “There was a lot going on.
It was a heated game that we could have won.”

After the Nowitzki-Landry collision, the Rockets went on an 18-5
run and held a 49-41 halftime lead.

NOTES: Carlisle and Dallas’ Erick Dampier received their second
technical fouls of the night late in overtime and were ejected.
Dallas finished with six technicals and Houston had one. …
More than an hour after the game, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban
said his team was protesting the game because the referees had
made “multiple misapplications of the rules” regarding the
technical fouls in overtime. … The Southwest Division rivals
will complete their four-game season series on Dec. 31. …
Tracy McGrady scored two points in seven minutes. McGrady was
inactive for the first 23 games while recovering from
microfracture surgery on his left knee in February. McGrady has
played less than eight minutes in each of the three games.