The Houston Rockets (4-2) got off to a great start against the Dallas Mavericks (4-2) Tuesday night, but the offense fluttered the rest of the way.  After putting up 37 points in the first quarter, they only scored 67 points the rest of the way.  Usually that would be plenty, but the Rockets let the Mavericks shoot 55% from the field and 7 of 12 from three.  The Mavs also out-rebounded them 46-37.

Aaron Brooks led the Rockets in scoring with 22, but the point guard only had one assist.  He needs to do a better job of getting his teammates involved.  Shane Battier had a terrible night, going 1-8 for only 3 points.  Carl Landry had a great game off the bench, scoring 19 points on 7-9 shooting, in only 25 minutes of play.  The Rockets were terrible in the third quarter, scoring only 13 points.  They did a good job of limiting the Mavs’ Dirk Nowitzki to 6-15 shooting, but they fouled him too much and he went 10-10 from the line, finishing with 23 points.  The Rockets need to do a better job of keeping a consistent effort throughout each quarter and their guards need to do a better job getting the big men involved.