(My Sportsbook) - The Dallas Mavericks try for their 12th straight win to open the season when they welcome the Houston Rockets to AmericanAirlines Center.

The Mavs are off to a record-breaking start. In addition to its unbeaten record, Dallas is second in the league in scoring average at 103 points per game. Last season, the offense clicked while the defense was porous. This is not the case in 2002-03. The Mavericks are holding opponents to 87.5 points per game.

Dallas' best November in franchise history was a 10-3 mark during the 1983-84 season. This month, the Mavs are already 10-0 with five games remaining.

Coach Don Nelson is hard at work trying to keep his team grounded during its recent surge.

"None of them are going to be easy," Nelson quickly pointed out about upcoming opponents. "And let's face it, everybody's going to draw a circle around our team now because we're the hottest team in the league. And they'd like to knock us off. We'd all like it to keep going because it's more fun to win than to lose."

The Mavericks are coming off a 98-72 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Steve Nash had 21 points and Dirk Nowitzki scored seven of his 18 during a game- breaking surge in the second quarter. With the win, Dallas matched the longest winning streak in its 23 seasons.

"That's a tough thing to do, not just for our organization but for any team in the league," said Michael Finley, who had 18 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. "If you think about it, that's a lot of games. We're going to continue to build on it."

Not only are the Mavs winning, but they're winning big. Dallas' average margin of victory this season is 15.5 points per game.

Since Mark Cuban took over in Dallas, the Mavs have been a harmonious bunch. The Lakers have looked lost without Shaquille O'Neal, not only in terms of points and rebounds, but also in overall cohesiveness.

"Without Shaq, they're just another team," Nash told the Dallas Morning News. "With Shaq, they're one of the best teams in history. The operative word is 'team' basketball. Is Shaq synonymous with team basketball?"

The last few years, Shaq has been synonymous with championships. That's where Dallas wants to be, so it will try to do so through team basketball.