(My Sportsbook) - The Houston Rockets have a lot at stake tonight, when they close out the regular season against the Southwest Division rival Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.

Houston can capture the division crown with a win tonight and could finish as high as second in the Western Conference with some help. It hasn't won a division title since the 1993-94 campaign when the Rockets won the first of back-to-back NBA titles.

The Rockets are currently tied with San Antonio atop the Southwest standings and even with Portland and the Spurs for the third seed in the conference. Denver is one game ahead of all three teams in the second spot.

Denver, San Antonio and Portland all close out the regular season tonight.

The Rockets have won five in a row and are coming off Monday's 86-66 rout of the New Orleans Hornets at the Toyota Center. Yao Ming returned to the lineup with 22 points and seven rebounds, while Von Wafer scored 13 points for Houston, which will put its 20-20 road record on the line tonight.

Shane Battier and Carl Landry each had 10 points in the win.

Dallas is even with New Orleans for the sixth seed in the West and will shoot for its sixth straight home victory Wednesday. The Mavs, who are 31-9 as the host in 2008-09, recorded a 96-94 triumph versus Minnesota on Monday thanks to Jason Terry's 22 points and game-winning jumper with 0.2 seconds left.

Dirk Nowitzki added 34 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks, who have won four of their last five games overall.

Houston is 2-1 against Dallas this season, but the Mavericks have won seven of 10 and 11 of the past 15 meetings between the teams. Dallas has won 10 of the last 13 games as the host in this series.