The Southwest Division grew hot on Monday night as the Houston Rockets took on the Dallas Mavericks on their home court. The Rockets looked amped-up as they came in with full strength after their back-to-back wins. The Mavs, on the other hand, enjoyed an early lead in the heated game.

The Mavs put their first points on the scoreboard with Dorian-Finney Smith’s 3-ft driving dunk and closed Q1 with Luka Doncic’s 30-ft step-back jump shot. For the Rockets, it was the second quarter where they kicked off their 17-7 lead that was soon blown away because of Luka’s dominant play. But it was the ejection of DeMarcus Cousins that remained the prime highlight of the thrilling game. 

Rockets received a huge blow in the form of DeMarcus Cousins

The 30-YO center entered the game at the beginning of the second quarter to replace P. J. Tucker. Just 35 seconds into the game, he made an offensive foul. Only two minutes had passed when he received his first technical foul and eventually got ejected when the score was 30-36. 

Just as Mavs’ James Johnson missed his corner three, center Willie Cauley-Stein stretched for a rebound. That’s when he and Sterling Brown got caught snatching the ball from one another. At that point, hot-headed DeMarcus stepped up and clearly pushed Cauley back. This awarded him a technical, and that followed by his second pushed him out of the game. 

Boogie is yet to make his presence felt

First, the star player missed the first two games because of the COVID protocols. The Rockets lost both games as a result of him being out with John Wall. Then when he did come, he played a restricted average of 12.5 minutes in the two games that the Rockets won. He averaged just 5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists.

In the game against the Mavs, he was looking dangerous with a dunk and a driving layup in his kitty. But unfortunately, Cousins could play for only 3 minutes and had to leave in absolute frustration. 

For the Rockets, however, their trio in James Harden, John Wall, and Christian Wood added a total of 49/77 points until Q3. Both P. J. Tucker and David Nwaba remained scoreless until the first half. The Mavs looked totally dependent on a high flying Luka Doncic, who enjoyed a 20-point first half with 7/14 from the field and 3/7 from the three-point range. He added another 7 points in the third quarter.

Whom were you supporting?