Terry lifts Dallas to ninth win in a row

Jason Terry made a go-ahead basket with 1:09 remaining and followed with two free throws in the final seconds to give Dallas an 80-77 victory over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, extending the Mavericks’ winning streak to nine games.

Luther Head had a shot in the lane with about six seconds remaining to give the Rockets the lead, but it bounced out. The Rockets were forced to foul Terry with 4.2 seconds left and he made both shots to extend the lead.

Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points and Jerry Stackhouse scored 17 for the Mavericks.

Tracy McGrady scored 27 points to lead Houston and Juwan Howard added 14.

Nowitzki scored eight points in the first quarter, but didn’t score in the second as he sat out almost half of it with two early fouls.

One of the highlights of the first half came when Nowitzki bit on a fake on the baseline by Head, who drove past him for the two-handed dunk. The play earned the second-year player a standing ovation from the crowd.