Showing that they truly are playoff ready, they pulled out a gutsy 95-84 victory over Houston on Wednesday night at American Airlines Center, costing the Rockets the Southwest Division title in the process and earning the Mavericks the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference playoff seeding.

When San Antonio beat New Orleans in overtime, it assured that the Spurs would win the division and be the No. 3 seed in the West, sending the Mavericks to San Antonio for the first round of the playoffs.

The Rockets fell to at least No. 4 and may have been fifth, pending the outcome of the Denver-Portland game, which started after the Mavericks and Rockets were done.

The Mavericks trailed by 14 points in the third quarter against the Rockets, but roared back behind Dirk Nowitzki's 30 points and 15 rebounds, Jason Terry's 23 points and Jason Kidd's 103rd career triple-double (11 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds).

The Mavericks held the Rockets to 3-of-14 shooting in the fourth quarter. Terry had as many points in the fourth, 14, as the entire Rockets' team.

It was Terry who hit an 18-footer and a 3-pointer, then another mid-range jumper to put the Mavericks up 87-80 with 3:25 left. After two Ron Artest free throws, Nowitzki's jumper and Terry's layup clinched the victory.

It was a hard-fought win, to say the least.

Through the second quarter and much of the third, the Mavericks had trouble scoring. They got just 21 points from the start of the second period until the six-minute mark of the third quarter, when they were down 61-47.

Josh Howard, who had an icy night until then, came alive by driving to the basket and hitting six free throws. Nowitzki had a pair of jumpers, the last of which cut the deficit to 63-57.

The game was getting rugged, and fouls began to play a part as Yao went out with his fourth late in the third. Terry, Ryan Hollins and Erick Dampier all had four for the Mavericks going into the final 12 minutes.

Hollins provided a highlight-reel moment, jamming a lob pass from Kidd that got the crowd worked up. They trailed, 70-65, going into the fourth quarter. The Mavericks had not led since 38-36, but 3-pointers by Terry and Kidd put them up 78-76 and Kidd then fed terry for a layup with 6:03 left.

It was a fitting climax to a regular season that was both fun and unpredictable.

The closeness of the West race speaks "to the parity of the entire league and especially the West," coach Rick Carlisle said. "And it obviously creates great interest."

What it created Wednesday night was the sense that the Mavericks may not have been quite as hot as they thought they were with Howard back in the lineup. They had won five of the last six times when he'd been in the lineup.

It went counter to what Carlisle and the Mavericks were trying to accomplish in the regular-season finale.

And what, exactly, were they hoping to do?

"What you want to do is get hot," he said. "There's going to be 16 teams wanting to do that. Cleveland and LA, they're going to want to continue and do it even better in the playoffs. It's going to be everyone's goal.

"I don't think we're any different than the 15 other teams that are going to be in it."

Time and place for banners: Shane Battier did a bang-up job defensively against Jason Kidd in the early going, then Jason Terry in the second quarter, when he had two blocks and forced a turnover by Terry.

But Battier's biggest impact came when he was asked what it would mean to have a Southwest Division championship banner hanging in Toyota Center.

"I'm not a big fan of division banners," Battier said. "I think when you win your conference, it's a pretty big accomplishment. When you win a title, it's a pretty big accomplishment.

"That's coming from a Duke guy. We put the ACC titles in the closet. We didn't put them up in Cameron Indoor. Only Final Fours and championships. I'm a traditionalist."