Game 78: Houston Rockets At Dallas Mavericks Preview
The Houston Rockets were able to impressively defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in a Sunday matinee on national television quite handily!
They kept their composure, they didn’t relent and weren’t rattled by their competition.
It goes to show that the Rockets can turn the juice on when needed but it has been their inconsistency that has been their Achilles heel the whole season.
They’ll take on the 38-39 Dallas Mavericks tonight which are one game ahead of the Rockets holding onto the 7th seed.
We’re currently on the outside looking in, trailing the 39-39 Utah Jazz by just one half of a game.
It’s going to be an exciting race to the finish line for the next five games and the Rockets should be able to prevail with a berth considering the Mavs and Jazz upcoming schedules.
But we’ll have to see.
So who’s leading the charge for the Mavericks?
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Dirk Nowitzki is the leading scorer (18.4 PPG). Zaza Pachulia is the team’s top board-getter (9.7 RPG). Deron Williams is the assist man (5.8 APG) and the steals king is Devin Harris (1.00 SPG). Salah Mejri is the prime shot-blocker (1.10 BPG).
Let’s talk about what the Mavericks do well.
They take care of the basketball quite well. The Mavericks are 2nd in the league as far as turnover ratio with 11.8 percent of their possessions ending in a turnover.
They continue to improve their offense. Since we last took on the Mavericks back Jan. 24, the Mavericks have now elevated to 9th in the league in offensive efficiency, averaging 104.9 points per 100 possessions. The Rockets are 8th (105.0 per 100 possessions).
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Injuries:
Sam Dekker‘s back issues have crept back up again and is scheduled to meet with his doctor sometime this week. This is unfortunate news for this year’s first-round pick but he wasn’t in the rotation so it won’t affect the team all that much. But his presence would’ve been helpful as I’d like to see what he has, it may be quite a bit. Meanwhile, Montrezl Harrell continues to exceed expectations, outplaying his 2nd-round status as I expected.
Deron Williams has suffered a groin injury and has missed time as a result with no timetable for return. He has already been ruled OUT for tonight’s match up. J.J. Barea will get the start in place of Williams.
Sources: Mark Berman of FOX26 (KRIV) and Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com
Three Things to Watch:
- Patrick Beverley vs. J.J. Barea
- James Harden vs. Wesley Matthews
- Donatas Motiejunas vs. Dirk Nowitzki
Prediction:
109-105 in a Rockets’ win!
The Rockets are at home to take on the Mavericks at American Airlines Center.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CDT.
The game will be televised on ESPN/ROOT Sports Southwest and broadcast on SportsTalk 790 AM (KBME), Sirius/XM/SiriusXM Internet 890 and La Ranchera 850 AM (KEYH) in Spanish.
Go Rockets!