Mavericks Tower Over Rockets

Dirk Nowitzki took care of the scoring and Shawn Bradley took care of Yao Ming.

Nowitzki had 34 points and 11 rebounds and led a 14-2 second-quarter spurt as the Dallas Mavericks completed a season sweep of the Houston Rockets, 100-85, Friday night.

Dallas won its fifth consecutive game and beat the Rockets for the fourth time this season.

“We always try to be the aggressor,” Nowitzki said. “When you’re the aggressor every night you’re going to get breaks. It’s a good shooting building. I’ve always liked to come here and play. There are always a lot of Mavs fans. It’s a lot of fun.”

While Nowitzki had his team leading 26th double-double, Bradley came off the bench for 12 points, seven rebounds and six blocks.

Yao scored 18 points, including 15 in the second half.

“We were able to get a lead and keep it,” Bradley said. “[Yao] got his points, but he didn’t get them until the end of the game when we had a good lead and the game was over. We knew we had to step up defensively. We couldn’t give them a lead and hope to come back.”

The Mavericks used their spurt late in the second quarter to take a 49-45 halftime lead, and they kept up the pace in the third quarter with a 20-12 run, building a 69-57 lead with 4:09 left in the period. Dallas took a 75-66 lead into the fourth quarter.

“This is something for me to learn from,” Yao said of the 7-foot-6 Bradley. “I don’t get many opportunities to play against anyone as tall as me. I thought the second half, I played OK but the first half I played very poorly.”

Steve Francis led Houston with 19 points.