Last night, the Rockets defeated the Clippers by 25 points to clinch the 5th playoff position. Unfortunately that places them against the red hot #4 Dallas Mavericks. These 2 teams split their 4 game series. One Maverick victory was an over-time thriller and the in last game, Houston easily defeated an injury depleated Dallas team. Houston has lost Juwan Howard for the season and doesn't have anybody to matchup against Nowitzki. Tracy McGrady imposes similar problems for the Mavericks. The "I-45" series should be one of the better first round match-ups.