Then the Dallas Mavericks hit them with all that has made them the NBA's best team this season. And the Rockets crumbled.

(L-R) Houston Rockets guard John Lucas, guard Tracy McGrady and center Dikembe Mutombo sit on the bench after McGrady was called for a technical foul from the bench in the fourth quarter of NBA basketball action in Dallas, Texas, February 9, 2007. [Reuters]

As poorly as the Rockets had been shooting, it was when the Mavericks hit them in the second half that the Rockets couldn't take it, wouldn't fight back and never responded as the Mavericks blew out to a 29-point lead on their way to a 95-74 second-half pounding of the Rockets at American Airlines Center on Friday night.

More than just dominate the Rockets on their way to a franchise-record 17th consecutive home win, the Mavericks seemed to expose them.

"When things got tough, we folded," Tracy McGrady said. "That's what makes them so great. You never see them get rattled. We're trying to get where they are.

"You just have to have heart, man. You just have to want it. Each individual. You can't coach that."

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy sounded as if he thought he could.

"If you're going to point a finger," he said, "point it at me."

Yet, as the Rockets have moved closer to the next echelon of the NBA, the distance between them and the top seemed to have grown wider, with the difference seeming to be the toughness they lacked when things got rough at almost precisely the point at which the Mavericks turned it on to blow them out last month.

For a team that has trailed heading into the fourth quarter 13 times this season, never coming back to win, the ability to respond to pressure was never more in question.

"They do that to a lot of teams," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "We try to think we're not a lot of teams. There was a stretch there it got away from us. We missed some jump shots, they got on the break, got the crowd into it, and that was essentially the game. There's no question we have to respond better to those situations.

"There's no fooling the good teams in this league. You have to go out and beat them. We haven't played well enough to beat these sort of teams in situations like this."

While making just 26 of 78 shots, their worst shooting night (33.3 percent) of the season, the Rockets matched their fewest points of the season.

By the time Josh Howard put the final exclamation point on the rout with a flying, two-handed slam for a three-point play with 6:38 left that took Dallas' lead to 85-56, the Rockets had made just 20 of 67 shots, just 4-of-24 in the second half.

Tracy McGrady, done for the night at the end of the third quarter, had 20 points, but 14 of those came in the first quarter. After that, the Mavericks trapped him early, usually leading to passes and missed shots inside and out.

McGrady made two of nine shots after the first quarter. Battier made one of nine, Juwan Howard three of nine, Luther Head one of eight and Kirk Snyder, playing with Bonzi Wells out, one of seven.

But as horrible as the Rockets were offensively, they were still very much in the game with less than five minutes remaining before the fourth quarter, down only 52-48.

Dallas scored the game's next 16 points, often grabbing the long rebounds of Rockets misses and taking off the other way, finding open spots and scoring with ease.

"They outclassed us in the second half," Van Gundy said. "They beat us up, obviously defended us well and turned those into transition baskets. And again, they dominated us on the boards.

"They have a solid team. I have to own that I have to get us to play better and our group has to own that when they hit us in the second half, our response was not what was needed to stay in the game against a quality team."

If nothing else, the Rockets knew just what was lacking. But then, the Mavericks had made that obvious.

"This was another game when we played them tight and well in the first half and when they extended their defensive pressure, we didn't have an answer for it," Rafer Alston said.

"You got to be tough. That's a tough team. You have to match that. You have to have the will and the drive to play against them. It's inside of you. It has to come from within you as a competitor. You have to compete."

Instead, when the Mavericks were their toughest, the Rockets, unable to hit back, just took the beating.