Despite the best efforts of Houston's Tracy McGrady, who racked up a brilliant 45 points, he simply had no helpers as the Rockets ultimately succumbed to the championship favourites.

Houston led the Mavericks by seven points at half-time, but as Dallas have done so often this season, they fought back in the second half, outscored the Rockets 62-43 in the final two quarters and claimed a comfortable win.

Dirk Nowitzki backed up his virtuoso performance against Toronto on Sunday (US) with 30 points and 10 rebounds and he had excellent support, something McGrady lacked, from Josh Howard who racked up 28 points and seven rebounds.

In Seattle, the Supersonics caused a boilover as they managed to defeat the more fancied Cleveland Cavaliers 101-96.

The Cavs had the Sonics' measure for the first half as they lead 54-49 at the major break, but Seattle managed to change things around in the second half as they outscored Cleveland by 10 points, ensuring the win.

The Sonics had numerous contributors with Ray Allen (22 points, 11 assists), Chris Wilcox (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Nick Collison (14 points, 12 rebounds) all combining brilliantly to secure Seattle's 15th win for the season.

For Cleveland, LeBron James once again starred with 30 points and eight assists, while Zydrunas Ilgauskas also chimed in with 24 points and 11 rebounds of his own.

Finally, the New Orleans-Oklahoma Hornets managed an upset victory of their own as they downed the Orlando Magic 84-78.

The thrilling match went into overtime after New Orleans squandered an eight-point three-quarter time lead, but the Hornets managed to hold their nerve as they outscored Orlando 9-3 in the additional period.

Rasual Butler (19 points, 11 rebounds), Desmond Mason (21 points, nine rebounds) and Jannero Pargo (25 points) were the stars for the Hornets who sit second-last in the Southwest conference - ten wins behind the third-last Rockets.

Dwight Howard was the best for the Magic with 17 points and 15 rebounds.