Cam Whitmore played down his starring role as the Houston Rockets defeated the Dallas Mavericks 110-99 at the Toyota Center.

The Rockets trailed by four midway through the second quarter but turned things around to lead 61-52 at half-time and did not look back.

Whitmore registered 18 points from the bench, including three 3-pointers, as he made the most of his 24 minutes on the court.

Rockets coach Ime Udoka singled out Whitmore for praise after the game for his scoring spark and also his strong defensive play.

But rather than accept the plaudits, the 20-year-old was simply glad that his side got the win.

"I contributed a little bit, but I mean, it doesn’t affect anything," he said. "It can't get me anywhere.

"But I mean, we’ll see what happens. I'm just glad we got the win."

Alperen Sengun led the scoring with 23 points, while also posting a career-high six steals, and Jalen Green added 22 points.

The Rockets ended up sailing to victory on Wednesday to snap a two-game losing run and move to 22-11 in the Western Conference.

"I feel like we had to defend," Whitmore said. "They're coming off the Western Conference finals, so they're a very good team.

"You got Kyrie [Irving] and Klay Thompson, so we definitely had to dial in a little bit more. It's not just any team that we were playing."

The Mavs, who lost for the third time in four games without Luka Doncic, are now 20-14 for the season and are fifth in the West.