Game 13: Dallas Mavericks Vs. Houston Rockets Preview

The Houston Rockets have had a couple of days off to rest and hopefully they figured out what’s causing them to play such bad basketball as of late.

This match up against the Dallas Mavericks is definitely one that the team has been waiting for, particularly because of Chandler Parsons‘ departure from the team to Big D.

As you know, the Rockets chose not to match the three-year, $46 million offer sheet the Mavs gave him in the off-season.

From the presumptuous, snarky comments made in the media about his former team to the feeble attempts at grandeur with the photos he’d snap of himself in Mavs’ gear, it certainly has added fuel for deep fire of a rivalry that seems to have just began to land its feet.

Oct 7, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard

James Harden

(13) is fouled by Dallas Mavericks guard

Monta Ellis

(11) as center

Tyson Chandler

(6) defends at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Parsons will draw the ire of many Rockets’ fans in attendance because of this and he will be booed in the starting lineup calls as well as every time he touches the ball.

It will be interesting to see how Parsons’ responds to pressures of being a key cog of an offense and how he deals with a sold-out, ticked-off Rockets’ crowd at Toyota Center.

Parsons has been averaging 14.5 points per game, 4.6 rebounds while shooting 42 percent from the field and 35 percent behind-the-arc.

His numbers are roughly close to what he produced for the Rockets.

But with as many offensive weapons as the Mavs have, he really hasn’t had to be the focal point.

Oct 7, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard

Jameer Nelson

(14) shoots against Houston Rockets forward

Donatas Motiejunas

(20) at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The Mavs’ are now the league’s top-ranked offense averaging 111.3 points per contest. They’ve made look so easy as they’ve breezed by opponents putting up lots of points along the way.

They just beat the Los Angeles Lakers last night by a 34-point margin scoring 140 points in the process to the Lakers’ 106.

It will be interesting to see if the Rockets can mitigate the surge the Mavs are going through.

My best guess is that it will be a valiant effort to stop it but they won’t with Dwight Howard being listed as doubtful for tonight and Terrence Jones being out for the foreseeable future. Those two big men would’ve been able to put a plug in their strong offensive flow.

The Houston Chronicle’s Jenny Dial Creech reports:

Dwight Howard was at shoot around today but is listed as questionable tonight against the Mavericks.
— Jenny Dial Creech (@jennydialcreech) November 22, 2014

Their best chance to win this game is shoot the ball well, make defensive plays and keep up with tit-for-tat.

If we see what has transpired over the past few games as far as our sputtering offense, this game is going to get out-of-hand real quick and won’t be pretty.

Their offense has started with Monta Ellis who is currently the team’s leading scorer at 19.7 points per game and is the top ball-distributor averaging 4.6 dimes a game.

Oct 7, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler (6) fights for a rebound against Houston Rockets center

Tarik Black

(10) at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Tyson Chandler, another off season acquisition from the New York Knicks, is their top threat in the paint. He is the team’s top rebounder averaging 10.5 boards a game in addition to him averaging 1.50 blocks per game.

Oh, did I mention that Dirk Nowitzki still plays for the Mavs’ too? He has deferred himself in terms of salary and production for the betterment of the team. He doesn’t have that much longer to play before he hangs it up. His stats are slightly down from last season but it’s quite understandable why. He took a deep pay cut to make that happen — he was making about $22 million per year at his peak last season but will make close to $8 million this season.

Without Howard and Jones out of the lineup, we will be over-matched against their front line with us fans hoping that Tarik Black, Donatas Motiejunas and Kostas Papanikolaou can try to slow their bigs down. Their inexperience makes that objective unlikely.

Also, pay close attention to how Patrick Beverley defends point guards Devin Harris and Jameer Nelson, this should be the best match up to watch. It’s a task I know that he’s up to.

We can only hope that James Harden will be up to task of agitating Ellis.

I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer but we just have too many holes to be able effectively defend the Mavs.

We don’t have the offensive firepower either — we can only hope for the best with this game.

It will still be interesting to watch though as the fans, the team’s sixth man, will try to help will our team to a win.

Three Things to Watch:

1. How Parsons responds to the pressure in his return back H-Town

2. Will the team be able to stymie the league’s top-ranked offense?

3. Patrick Beverley vs. the Mavs’ guards

Prediction:

110-98 in a Rockets’ loss