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NBA: Rockets blast Mavs to extend winning streak to 17 games

The Chicago Bulls' Luol Deng, front, battles the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James for the ball in the first half of their NBA game in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

Although the red-hot Houston Rockets continue to blast past opponents in surprisingly easy fashion, they're not surprising themselves.

Tracy McGrady had 31 points with nine assists, Rafer Alston tossed in a season-high 24 points, and the Rockets extended their franchise- record winning streak to 17 games with a dominating 113-98 victory over the Dirk Nowitzki-less Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

"We feel real confident, we're playing great basketball as a unit," said McGrady, whose club owns the league's longest winning streak of the season. "It feels good to get a win against this team, which has owned us in the past."

The Rockets improbable run -- the last five wins since losing All- Star centre Yao Ming to season-ending foot surgery last week -- matches the seventh longest streak in NBA history and is their 21st in the last 22 games.

"We all believe," McGrady said. "When you have a roster full of guys that believe in themselves, great chemistry among the team, and we go out and play extremely hard every night, I'm not surprised."

Rookies Carl Landry scored 17 points and Argentine Luis Scola had 12 for the Rockets (41-20) who shot 54 percent from the field (45-of-83) with just four turnovers to extend their franchise-best road winning streak to 11 games.

The Mavericks were without reigning league MVP Nowitzki, who was serving a one-game league suspension for his hard foul on Utah's Andrei Kirilenko in Monday night's loss.

Bulls 107, Cavaliers 96

At Chicago, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng scored 23 points apiece, and Chicago overcame 39 points from LeBron James to beat Cleveland.

Spurs 108, Pacers 97

At San Antonio, Manu Ginobili scored 28 points to help San Antonio win its 11th game in a row, keeping the defending NBA champions atop the tight Western Conference.
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