Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks: 5 things to watch

The Rockets' postseason hopes may effectively be over, but the Mavericks will head into Sunday's matinee with plenty of room left even if they secure a playoff berth.

With Friday's win over the Warriors, they became the No. 5 seed, moving into fourth place just two games behind the Clippers and receiving home court advantage in the first round. They are also only two games behind the Pelicans in seventh place, and will need to avoid dropping two spots to avoid a play-in game.

The Rockets, who will be officially eliminated from the postseason with the next loss or the next Warriors win, are hoping that their play-in chase will gain momentum heading into next season, even if they fall short of making the postseason. Ta. There's time for that, but with only five games left for him, no win is as important as his breakthrough in Dallas.

Sunday's 125-107 loss to the Mavericks was the Rockets' ninth loss in their last 11 meetings with Dallas. The Rockets' winning streak ended at 11 with this game, and their road winning streak ended at seven two nights later against Minnesota.

It will not be a rematch against the in-form Mavericks, but a rematch after the Rockets suffered a four-game losing streak, which is the longest of the season.

The Mavericks are 13-2 in their last 15 games, their best 15-game streak since the 2010-11 season when they won the NBA championship. Over the past 15 games, they have outscored their opponents by an average of 10.1 points.

Mavericks star Luka Doncic missed Friday's game against the Warriors with a sore right knee, but was expected to be back in time for the game against the Rockets.

He is listed as a suspect. He was listed as questionable before the game and was sensational.

The Rockets are already feeling the effects of Doncic, but this game will at least be their last chance to slow down the league's leading scorer this season.

Doncic scored 47 points against the Rockets a week ago, but didn't score in the fourth quarter. It was only his fourth most in a game this season, but it was enough to dominate the game, end the Rockets' winning streak, and make an impression.

In another game against the Rockets this season, he scored 41 points. In two games against the Rockets, he averaged 44 points, 10.5 rebounds and 8 assists on 33-of-59 shooting and 12-of-26 threes.

Doncic, who is averaging 33.8 points per game, is averaging 36.9 points in the seven games he has missed this season. He ranks second in the NBA with an average of 9.8 assists. His 9.2 rebounds per game are tops among NBA guards.

The Rockets like to run and have been scoring well during the break since the All-Star break, especially since moving to a small lineup after Alperen Shengyun's injury.

The Mavericks have given up more points during the break than just four teams this season.

But when the Rockets lost to the Mavericks at Toyota Center, they ran but couldn't score.

The Rockets scored 13 points on just 5 of 16 shots on the fast break. This isn't a bad total, he's only 2.6 points off his season average. However, it resulted in too many empty possessions and wasted scoring opportunities.

They had 15 fast-break points against the Heat on Friday, but only converted 6-of-15 fast-break shots.

The Rockets' 3-point shooting has dropped significantly since their winning streak, and in the loss to the Mavericks, their shooting percentage of 34.2% was their highest in the past four games.

The Rockets have shot just 31.2% from three over the past four games.

After shooting 42.3% from 3-point range in March before the March 31st game against the Mavericks, Rockets guard Jaylen Green is 7-of-33 in the past four games, his best performance in those games. He averaged 18 points on 37.3% shooting. 5.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists.

Dillon Brooks scored 18 points against the Heat on Friday, tying his total from the past four games.

The Mavericks' lineup, which includes Kyrie Irving, Derrick Jones Jr., Doncic, and trade deadline acquisitions Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington, is 12-1, including last week's win over the Rockets. ing.

Gafford and Washington showed glimpses of how they solidified their rotation in this game, but they didn't need to total more than 18 points and 10 rebounds.

On Friday, with Doncic sidelined, he had perhaps his best overall performance since moving to Dallas. Washington had a career-high 32 points, five rebounds, five steals, three assists, and two blocked shots for the Mavericks. Gafford had 10 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots.

With Gafford and Washington starting, the Mavericks brought rookie Derek Lively II off the bench and had a strong secondary with Dante Exum, who scored 13 points against the Rockets, and Tim Hardaway Jr., who had nine points. formed a unit. However, Lively was sidelined Sunday with a sprained right knee. Maxi Kleber is questionable with back spasms. If that happens, Dwight Powell could return to the rotation.

A week after one of the Rockets' rookies returned from injury against the Mavericks, they need another one back in time to play against the Mavericks.

Armen Thompson missed Friday's second game of back-to-back games with an ankle sprain, but is expected to return to the Rockets. His importance to the Rockets has been clear since Shang-Gyun's injury, both during their winning streak and when they struggled in recent games.

In the 12 games since Thompson was inserted into the starting lineup in Shengyun's absence, he has averaged 14 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals. However, he struggled through the first three games of the Rockets' losing streak, playing through injured tendons in the fingers of his right hand. In those games, he averaged 8.3 points and shot 41.7% from the field.

Cam Whitmore is averaging 14 points in four games since returning from a knee injury, but is shooting just 40.8 percent from the field.