The Houston Rockets (38-39, 11th place in the Western Conference) will travel north to face in-state rival Dallas Mavericks (47-30, 5th place in the Western Conference) on Sunday. This game has huge implications for the Rockets in the playoffs. Houston lost 119-104 to the Miami Heat on Friday night, its fourth straight loss. The Rockets are four games out of the final 10 for a postseason berth with five games remaining on the regular season schedule.
Dallas defeated the Golden State Warriors 108-106 on Friday night. The Mavericks have won two straight and nine of their last 11 games. Dallas is fifth in the Western Conference, but only two games out of seventh place, with the top six teams avoiding the play-in round. Houston will be playing without Steven Adams, Tali Eason and Alperen Sengun, while two others are questionable. Dallas has five players listed as questionable, including Luka Doncic.
As the shot clock ticks down, the NBA picks are in motion.
Houston's hopes are fading
Houston has only five games left on its regular season schedule, but has a four-game lead over 10th place and the final spot in the postseason. The Golden State Warriors will be tough to catch, as Houston needs to win and Golden State has to lose its remaining games. That seems unlikely, as Houston has lost four straight games and Golden State has won seven of its past 10 games.
Houston continues to play without leading scorer and rebounder Alpelen Sengun, so the current leading scorer is Jalen Green, who averages 19.9 points per game, and the current leading rebounder is Jabari Smith Jr., who averages 8.2 boards per game. . Fred VanVleet ranks third with 16.7 points per game and leads the dish with 8.1 assists per game. The Rockets are averaging 45.6 rebounds per game, 11.5 off the offensive glass and 34.1 on the defensive boards.
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Dallas is hard to stop with the ball.
Dallas is averaging 118.2 points per game, which ranks sixth in the NBA. The Mavericks are 11th in field goal percentage at 48.2% and 10th in 3-point shooting percentage at 37.3%. Defensively, Dallas ranks 20th with 115.7 points per game. The Mavericks hold opponents to 20th place with an overall shooting percentage of 47.5% and 18th place with a shooting percentage of 36.8% from 3-point land.
Luka Doncic (questionable) is Dallas' leading scorer with 33.8 points per game, and Kyrie Irving is second with 25.4 points per game. Dallas has three other players averaging double-digit points. Doncic is the team's assist leader, averaging 9.8 dishes per game. Dallas is averaging 42.7 rebounds per game, 9.7 off the offensive glass and 33.0 off the defensive boards. Doncic is averaging a team-high 9.2 rebounds per game and leads the team in steals with 1.5. Daniel Gafford is a rim protector, averaging 2.0 blocked shots per game.
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Insider status:
evaluation:
The pressure appears to be taking a toll on the Houston Rockets' young, talented roster, who have lost four straight while trying to climb into 10th place in the Western Conference. The Rockets have failed to cover the spread in four of their past five games. Dallas is closing in on clinching a top-six spot in the Western Conference to avoid the postseason play-in round. Dallas has covered the spread in seven of its past eight games. Dallas is the sixth-leading scoring offense, averaging 118.2 points per day, and ranks 11th in field goal shooting percentage and 10th in 3-point shooting percentage. Dallas has won nine of its last 10 games, including beating the Rockets 125-107 in Houston last week, covering the spread in the process.
Prediction: Dallas Mavericks -7.5
full game total pick
Insider status:
evaluation:
Nine of Dallas' last 10 games and the Mavericks have been under the total in each of their last six home games. The over has also been in eight of the last 12 games between Houston and Dallas. Houston has finished under the total in 10 of the last 15 games played on the road against Dallas. Houston ranks eighth in defensive efficiency at 110.4, while Dallas ranks respectable at 17th at 112.9.
Prediction: Less than 226.5
