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DALLAS — Chandler Parsons and the Houston Rockets made it two straight over a Texas rival without James Harden. Sam Perkins Jersey . Parsons scored 26 points, and the Rockets almost blew a 12-point lead in the final 4 minutes before hanging on for a 117-115 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Seven Rockets scored in double figures on a night when they had just 10 players in uniform. Dwight Howard had 21 points, and Jeremy Lin added 18 and seven assists. „When hes out, we have a more balanced attack,“ Parsons said of Harden. „We run our sets and get the best shot available. When hes not there, we dont go one-on-one as much.“ The Mavericks cut a 12-point deficit with 4:08 remaining to just two and had a chance to win, but Jose Calderon missed a pair of 3-point tries in the final seconds. Dirk Nowitzki had 38 points and a season-high 17 rebounds, but was the only Dallas starter in double figures. „We shouldnt be putting ourselves in those situations where were fighting back the whole game,“ Calderon said. Harden was out again with a bruised left thumb a night after Houston beat San Antonio to answer consecutive losses to Memphis. The win over the Spurs came in a season-high third straight game with fewer than 100 points, but the Rockets broke that streak on a pair of free throws by Parsons with 7:08 remaining. „They were two big games for us, especially after losing two to Memphis,“ Parsons said. The Rockets, who were also without centres Omer Asik and Greg Smith and forward Francisco Rodriguez, took a double-digit lead with a 9-0 run midway through the fourth quarter. Lin, who also grabbed seven rebounds, had a pair of layups to get the run going. Patrick Beverley finished it with a 3-pointer that made him the seventh double-figure scorer and put Houston up 107-95. Dallas was still down seven with 1:20 remaining when Vince Carter hit a 3-pointer, and Nowitzki made two free throws with 22 seconds left. Calderon knocked away the inbound pass, and the ball went off Houstons Aaron Brooks after he chased it down. With a chance to tie or win, Nowitzki was working for a shot before deciding to pass to Calderon. His first try from 3 was short and he missed again just before the buzzer after running down the rebound. „We came over to double-team Dirk to make sure Dirk didnt beat us,“ Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. „Calderon had a look, but fortunately he missed.“ Donatas Motiejunas had his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for the Rockets. Houstons win split the four-game series between the teams and put the Rockets 4 1/2 games ahead of the Mavericks for second place in the Southwest Division. The Spurs are in front. Five days after scoring a career-high 34 points against Memphis, Parsons also had five assists, including an inbound pass for a layup by Brooks with just 0.9 seconds on the shot clock in the third quarter. Howard had a season-low five rebounds but made seven of eight free throws in the last five minutes, most of those with the Mavericks fouling him on purpose to try to get back in the game. He was 9 of 11 from the line. „I dont know how many times they blew by us, but Im glad we started fouling Howard because I was starting to get the chills over there from all of the blow-bys,“ Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. „It saved our guys the embarrassment of getting blown by two or three times in a row.“ Calderon and Monta Ellis combined for 14 points and made just 5 of 22 from the field for Dallas, which got 22 points from Carter and a season-high 14 for the third straight game from Devin Harris. „In true Houston form, we let them come back,“ Lin said. „Were happy to sneak away with a win. We always seem to let it go down to the wire.“ Notes: Nowitzki became the 13th player in NBA history with 26,000 points. John Havlicek is next on the scoring list at 26,395. … Second-year Rockets F Terrence Jones was selected to the Rising Stars challenge over All-Star weekend. The 22-year-old has started 38 games and more than doubled the scoring and rebounding averages from his rookie season. Seattle Supersonics Shirts . Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Buddy Robinson scored 43 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs in American Hockey League action Friday night at the Bell Centre. Vin Baker Jersey . Mika Zibanejad and Jason Spezza scored in the shootout to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 victory over Nashville on Saturday night.BARCELONA, Spain — Four days after affirming its European credentials by toppling Manchester City, Barcelona slumped to a stinging 3-1 loss at Real Sociedad to relinquish the provisional Spanish league lead to Real Madrid on Saturday. Gareth Bale scored a blistering long-range strike to help Madrid brush aside Elche 3-0 at home, and Barcelona was unable to match that with a win. Instead, it was overrun by Sociedads dynamic attack led by forwards Antoine Griezmann and Carlos Vela. Barcelonas defeat confirmed the change in course in the league title race over the past two months, leaving Madrid in command and waiting to see if Atletico can keep up when it visits Osasuna on Sunday. After starting the season with 13 wins and a draw, Barcelona has dropped points in four of its last seven games. Barcelona coach Gerard Martino shuffled his lineup from Tuesdays Champions League victory at City and tried to reinforce his defence by playing with two holding midfielders in Sergio Busquets and Alex Song. The move backfired when Song scored an own goal in the 32nd minute in the first of several defensive lapses that doomed the defending champions. Lionel Messi equalized in the 36th, only for Griezmann to restore the hosts advantage after an error by defender Marc Bartra in the 54th before setting up David Zurutuza in the 59th. The loss left Barcelona three points behind Madrid, the first time it has trailed its fierce rival this season. Atletico is also three points behind Madrid before it plays on Sunday. The last time Barcelona lost by more than one goal was a 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in May 2013. Martino took the blame for the humbling defeat. „Real (Sociedad) deserved to win,“ he said. „I didnt make the correct reading of the game. The decision not to change was also a mistake.“ Madrid won its third straight game without Cristiano Ronaldo, who was finishing a three-game suspension. Madrid midfielder Asier Illarramendi opened the scoring at the Santiago Bernabeu in the 34th. Bale then squashed Elches timid second-half surge with a blast frrom about 25 metres in the 72nd before substitute Isco Alarcon sealed the victory in the 81st. Fred Brown Jersey. Bale was having a discreet outing until his superb strike that hit the underside of the bar and bounced in, securing the three points that made Madrid the overnight pacesetters. „I said My goodness, what a goal when I saw the ball pass by,“ Madrid fullback Dani Carvajal said. Madrid will visit Schalke 04 on Wednesday in the Champions League final 16 enjoying an unbeaten streak of 26 games in all competitions. Madrid then plays at crosstown rival Atletico next weekend in a highly anticipated league meeting. Also, Celta Vigo fought back for a 1-1 draw at home against 10-man Getafe to leave the visitors winless in the last 10 rounds, while Malaga drew 0-0 at Almeria. Martino was dismissed by the referee during halftime, and Barcelonas first-year manager had to witness the rare sight of his team being thoroughly dismantled from the Anoeta Stadium stands as the festive home fans soaked up their big win. The victory moved Sociedad one point out of fourth place and Spains last Champions League spot as the Basque side deployed its best version of its up-tempo attack to take a good measure of vengeance for Barcelona eliminating it from the Copa del Rey the previous week. Sociedad was unlucky not to widen the final margin when a disheartened Barcelona appeared to tire in the final minutes. Vela almost capped his outstanding performance in the 81st but his shot hit the post. Sociedad went ahead when Gorka Elustondo muscled by Song to meet Sergio Canales cross, which Elustondo appeared to graze with his head before it hit Song in the chest and landed in the net. Messi combined with Martin Montoya to level when Sergio Busquets craftily let Montoyas pass run between his legs for Messi to rifle it inside the upright of Claudio Bravos goal. Sociedad, however, got the winner when Bartra headed Bravos goalkick back toward his own area, where Vela was quick to pounce and crossed for Griezmann to volley in his 15th league goal of the season. ‚ ‚ ‚