HOUSTON — Aaron Brooks felt like he was in a groove, and that was all the Rockets needed to pull out another close win over the Mavericks.
Brooks scored 30 points and Shane Battier made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2:11 left in Houston’s 97-94 victory Thursday night.
“I wanted to extend the defense a little bit and open up Carl (Landry) on the inside a little bit,” Brooks said. “I feel we did a great job doing that. I’m going to go out there and play hard and shoot when I’m open, and whatever happens after that, I’m going to roll with it.”
Brooks followed Battier’s 3 with one of his own for a six-point lead with 1:35 remaining, and the Rockets held on when Jason Kidd missed a potential tying shot from behind the arc in the final second.
“I got a great look,” Kidd said. “I might have rushed it a second. I would love to have that shot again. Give Houston credit. They won the game. We had an opportunity.”
The Rockets led through most of the first half and went up 66-52 in the third quarter, aided by six quick points by Brooks. But the Mavs scrambled back into the game and tied it at 89 with 4:52 to play.
Jason Terry led a strong bench performance by Dallas with 20 points. Josh Howard had 16 points and Drew Gooden added 10 points off the bench.
Shawn Marion had 16 points and Kidd scored 14 for the Mavs, but Dirk Nowitzki (11) sat out much of the first half with three fouls.
