DALLAS -- It was only fitting that free throws decided this preseason opener between the Interstate 45 rivals.

The Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets combined to shoot 109 free throws Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center. The final few, which Houston forward Kostas Papanikolaou made with two-tenths of a second remaining, were the difference in the Rockets' 111-108 victory.

The preceding whistle on Mavs swingman Jae Crowder -- the 81st foul of an eye-abusing game that lasted almost three hours -- would have been controversial if anybody actually cared who won this game.

"Whether or not that was the correct call, it was the right call because it spared everybody five more minutes of basketball agony," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle deadpanned.

The best news for the Mavs is that they have seven more preseason games to get prepared for the regular season.

There were some bright spots. Chandler Parsons had a decent debut in Dallas, scoring 14 points in 24 minutes. So did Al-Farouq Aminu, who grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds in 20 minutes while filling in at power forward as Dirk Nowitzki nursed a minor right hip injury. Charlie Villanueva, who is fighting for a roster spot as a reserve stretch power forward, put up 13 points in 14 minutes before fouling out.

But this performance was far from pretty for the Mavs, who matched the Rockets' total with 24 turnovers and shot only 40.6 percent from the field. Of course, the frequent whistles didn't help the Dallas get into anything resembling a groove.

"It makes it difficult because you don't get a true rhythm," said Mavs center Tyson Chandler, who had 10 points, six rebounds and five fouls in 14 minutes. "But there's some things that we can take from it and some things that we can build on."

Carlisle's highest praise was for rookie ref Donald Hudson, and that just might have been tongue in cheek. There won't be much laughing during the Mavs' morning film session.

"I don't think anybody played great," Carlisle said. "We've got to get better. There were some ugly stretches. That's why they have exhibition games."

With so many new pieces, the Mavs might need all eight preseason games to get ready for the regular season. But nobody needed five more minutes of this mess in the preseason opener.