Jet takes off in win over Rockets

He’s a sixth man in name only. He’s also known as Jet.

Whatever you call him or whatever he does, it’s clear that Jason Terry is doing something right. Make that a lot of things.

“Jet is playing some really good basketball for us,” Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. “He just had that look in his eyes and his shot looked really good. We are surprised when he misses. Kind of spoiled these days.”

Terry piloted the second-half flight that lifted the Mavericks past Houston 107-98 Monday night before 20,389 fans at American Airlines Center. The two Texas heavyweights locked horns in a matchup some wanted to call a measuring stick. Others dubbed it a showdown.

It was a hard-fought regular-season game between a pair of teams that should be in the middle of the Western Conference scrum six months from now. The Rockets suffered their first loss, leaving them tied with Dallas in the Southwest Division at 3-1.

“This was a key win,” said Terry, averaging 22.8 points and shooting 60 percent. “We are off to a good start. They really put it to us in that early November game last year. We are one up on them now, but we can’t get too excited because we have to go down at the end of the month. They are a good team and a team to be reckoned with in this division.”