Jason Terry had another impressive performance for the Dallas Mavericks as he came off the bench to score 31 points and start a key third-quarter run to give his team a 107-98 win over the Houston Rockets at American Airlines Center. It was Terry’s 31st career 30-plus point game.

“Jet is playing some really good basketball for us. He just had that look in his eyes and his shot looked really good. We are surprised when he misses.” Dallas coach Avery Johnson said about Terry.

Josh Howard was in a pretty good shape as well and he finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds and four assists. Veteran Jerry Stackhouse, who celebrated his 33rd birthday, had 16 points and was a key factor in the final four minutes when the game was decided as the Mavericks finally pulled away from Rockets.

With just four minutes left of the game, the Mavericks were three points in front (93-30) when they caused a turnover and Stackhouse went on to score a key three pointer. The two teams from Texas exchanged baskets, but after McGrady missed on a jumper, last season’s MVP Dirk Nowitzki got another key three pointer and pushed the Mavericks’ lead to 101-92. Form then on Houston never threatened.

Germany’s Nowitzki finished last night’s game with 19 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks, who are now 3-1 at the start of the season. Their speedy point guard Devin Harris is still unable to play due to a thigh contusion and Dallas also missed the contributions of other key players such as Erick Dampier, Devean George and Brandon Bass.

McGrady had another high-scoring game as he finished with 35 points and eight assists. But after a quick start he kind of cooled off and went on to shoot just 12-for-31 from the floor on the night. Yao Ming had 21 points and 11 rebounds, but he got into foul trouble and he didn’t play much during the decisive three and four quarters.