HOUSTON -- James Harden and Terrence Jones combined on a series of backbreaking plays to lift the Houston Rockets to a 103-94 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night at Toyota Center, a win that clinched this Western Conference first-round series in five games.

With Houston clinging to a 94-89 lead, Harden buried a 3-pointer with 2:39 remaining. He added a steal on the defensive end, pushed the ball up court, and fed Jones for a dunk that bumped the advantage to eight points. And then, with 51.7 seconds to play, Jones added another transition dunk, this one off a length-of-the-court pass from Harden.

Harden finished with 28 points and eight assists while Jones added 15 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Rockets center Dwight Howard added 18 points, 19 rebounds and four blocks while Josh Smith chipped in 20 points and eight rebounds off the Houston bench.

The Rockets will face the winner of the San Antonio Spurs-Los Angeles Clippers series in the Western Conference semifinals.

Even when the Rockets appeared safe, the Mavericks responded. Jones followed a 3-point play at the 5:07 mark with a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to boost the Rockets lead to 94-85.

Dallas answered.

It wasn't until Harden and Jones teamed up before Dallas relented.

Mavericks guard Monta Ellis paced Dallas with 25 points and seven assists while forward Dirk Nowitzki added 22 points and 14 boards. Forward Al-Farouq Aminu had 14 points and nine rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks did a solid job of answering the Rockets' early energy, racking up three fast-break baskets in the opening moments for an 11-9 lead when center Tyson Chandler threw down a dunk at the 8:08 mark.

But Harden answered with the same offensive thrust, keying a 14-5 run with a transition 3 and a fast-break layup before Dallas kept running.

The combination of the Mavericks' transition prowess and the Rockets' sloppy ballhandling enabled Dallas to whittle what was a 12-point deficit at 45-33 to three points on Ellis' 3-point play with 66 seconds remaining in the half.

Houston accumulated eight turnovers in the second quarter and 15 in the first half, yielding 17 Dallas points.

Even with Nowitzki shooting just 2-for-11 by the intermission, the Mavericks trailed by just six points at the break, a lead bolstered by a late Harden 3 after a missed Smith free throw snagged by Clint Capela.

But even after cleaning things up in the third quarter -- Houston turned the ball over just once in the period -- the Rockets couldn't shake Dallas. It helped that Nowitzki began to warm up in the third, boosting his scoring total to 16 points entering the fourth.

Even after Houston sank seven free throws to build its lead to 75-61 with 5:21 left, the Mavericks answered with two 3s and trailed by just seven as the third closed.

NOTES: Excluding his foul-plagued, 17-minute outing in Game 1, Rockets C Dwight Howard was averaging 35.3 minutes in the series entering Game 5. Given his minutes restriction down the stretch of the regular season, extending Howard amounts to a confirmation that his right knee is healthy following surgery in February. ... According to published reports, Mavericks F Chandler Parsons might require microfracture surgery on his right knee. Parsons missed the final six games of the regular season and has been sidelined since playing 37 minutes in Game 1. His cartilage could be repaired with an arthroscopic procedure, a decision that will be made whenever the initial 'scope is performed.