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Tuesday, Dec. 5 8:30pm ET
Francis, Nowitzki battle to career-highs

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

HOUSTON (AP) -- The Dallas Mavericks had more serious subjects on their minds after losing to the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night.

Steve Francis
Steve Francis was co-rookie of the year last season, and Tuesday night he showed why with a career-high 36 points.

Coach Don Nelson told his players after the 109-102 loss on Tuesday night that he has prostate cancer.

"That really puts the game in perspective," Michael Finley said. "His life is a lot more important than any basketball game. But he's a fighter and I have confidence he'll get through this. We'll all be praying for him."

The 60-year-old coach planned to see his doctor Wednesday in Dallas, and will seek a second opinion.

"It's a tough thing," said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored a career-high 35 points in the loss. "It's very sad but hopefully everything will work out for him."

Nelson, who said he was "not shaken up" before the game, didn't want to talk about the cancer after.

"I've said all I want to say about my prostate right now," he said. "I've already talked enough about that for a lifetime."

Steve Francis scored a career-high 36 points for Houston. Shandon Anderson had 22 points for Houston. Cuttino Mobley added 14, Moochie Norris had 13, Matt Bullard 12 and Hakeem Olajuwon 10.

"This was a huge win for us," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "We could have just showed up. We had a lot of guys sick and we were going against a team playing very well.

"They're very hard to defense but we found a way to get it done."

Howard Eisley added 24 points and Michael Finley had 22.

With the Rockets leading 92-88, Matt Bullard hit back-to-back three-pointers to give Houston a 10-point lead with 3:53 to play. But the Mavs closed it to 102-99 on Hubert Davis' free throw with 1:04 to play.

Mobley hit four free throws the final 22 seconds and Francis added one with seconds to play to wrap up the win.

"This definitely was a good game for us," Francis said. "We came out and established that we were not going to back down.I thought coach did a good job of contrasting their big lineup with our smaller, quicker guys."

The Mavs scored nine straight points early in the second quarter to take a 34-33 lead. But the Rockets, behind 23 points from Francis, led 54-51 lead at the half.

Houston expanded that lead to 61-53 early in the third, but the Mavs outscored the Rockets 12-2 to take a 65-63 lead with 6:25 left in the quarter. Houston led 85-76 after three.

Game notes
Maurice Taylor and Kenny Thomas both missed the game for Houston with the flu. Bullard started in Taylor's place. Olajuwon played with bronchitis. ... Eduardo Najera sat out the game with a strained right groin for Dallas. Steve Nash missed his second straight game with a bruised right calf.
NBA Scoreboard

Dallas Clubhouse

Houston Clubhouse

Mavericks coach Nelson has prostate cancer


RECAPS
Indiana 88
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Orlando 101
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Minnesota 100
Chicago 90

Sacramento 81
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Houston 109
Dallas 102

Utah 98
Toronto 84

Vancouver 91
Detroit 83

LA Lakers 96
Philadelphia 85


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