Basketball: Dallas 90 Houston 81

Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points Tuesday to lead the Dallas Mavericks past Houston 90-81. Rodrigue Beaubois added 14 points and Brandan Wright had 13 for the Mavericks, who won for the sixth time in their last eight contests. The Mavericks trailed 53-48 in the third quarter but took off on a 16-2 run that gave them the lead for good. Jason Terry sparked the rally with seven consecutive points. Dallas extended its lead to as much as 13 points in the fourth quarter. Luis Scola scored 22 points to lead the Rockets. Goran Dragic had 17 points and Chandler Parsons scored 15.