Rockets Live: Houston Erases a Seven-Point First Quarter to Lead the Mavericks 51-43 Late in the Second
Dallas won the first quarter 27-20. Houston answered with a 31-16 second quarter and took an eight-point lead into the final minute of the half in the NBA Cup opener for both teams.
DALLAS - The Houston Rockets turned their NBA Cup opener around in one quarter on Friday night. After Dallas won the first quarter 27-20 at American Airlines Center, Houston outscored the Mavericks 31-16 in the second and led 51-43 with 44 seconds left in the half, in the first group-play game of the tournament for both teams. The Rockets arrived 5-0, their best start since 2014-15; Dallas came in 3-2, two nights after handing the Oklahoma City Thunder its first loss, 120-96, on the same floor.
The shape of the half rhymes with the season opener these teams played nine days ago at Toyota Center, when Houston beat Dallas 128-110 behind 30 points each from Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. - a game Houston broke open by winning the second quarter 38-12. Friday's second-quarter swing was smaller but pointed the same way: a seven-point deficit became an eight-point lead before halftime, on the road, in a Cup game that counts in both the group standings and the regular-season table.
The second half decides it. The winner takes the early edge in West Group A; Houston's night also runs forward into a back-to-back - the Rockets host Oklahoma City at Toyota Center on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT, the Thunder's return match a week after Dallas beat them. The Sports Desk files the final score and the game story within 45 minutes of the final buzzer.
