Dallas ? With a chance to finally pull ahead in their first-round playoff series, the Dallas Mavericks refused to let anything stop them.

Not even the boundaries of the court.

The Mavs hustled at both ends of the floor to protect a shrinking lead in the fourth quarter of a 103-100 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night, and in one key instance they got away with Michael Finley making a play from beyond the baseline.

Replays showed Finley clearly had both feet out of bounds when he jarred a rebound from Houston’s Jon Barry with just under a minute left. Officials didn’t see that — but they did see Barry foul Jerry Stackhouse after he grabbed the loose ball. He made both free throws to help Dallas pad a lead that wasn’t secure until Tracy McGrady missed a jumper at the buzzer.

“Until you win the series, you don’t have anything,” said Mavericks coach Avery Johnson, whose squad grabbed a 3-2 series lead.

The previous game in Dallas ended with McGrady making a long jumper in the closing seconds. This time, he missed two foul shots with 3.4 seconds left — the second intentionally — but got his own rebound and put up a three-pointer from the left corner that could’ve tied it.

McGrady never has advanced to the second round and is in jeopardy of blowing a 2-0 lead for the second straight time.

After blowing fourth-quarter leads of eight and six points the last two games, the Rockets trimmed an 11-point deficit to 102-100 with 7.4 seconds left but couldn’t finish the comeback. They’ve lost three straight after winning nine in a row.

“It’s tough,” said McGrady, who scored 25 points.

Houston's Dikembe Mutombo, left, battles for the ball with Dallas' Jerry Stackhouse. The Mavericks beat the Rockets, 103-100, Monday night in Dallas, taking a 3-2 series lead after trailing 2-0.