- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets face off with plenty on the line. Join The Roar for live scores from 11:30am (AEDT).
Both the Mavericks and Rockets are right on the edge of the playoffs in the Western Conference, and this game could tell us a lot about who is going to make it and who won’t.
The Utah Jazz are also involved in the picture, and only one game separates the teams who are placed seventh through ninth.
The Mavericks are in seventh, with a record of 39 and 38, with the Utah Jazz half a game back, and the Rockets one game further behind. The Jazz have also played one more game than those two sides coming into today’s game.
Looking at the sides’ runs homes though, and it becomes even more important for the Mavericks. Houston don’t play another game against a top eight side in either conference, while Dallas play all their games against top-eight sides.
Houston been on a giant killing rampage in the last fortnight, with wins against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors. In the same period of time though, they have gone down to the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Utah, making it very hard to get a read on their form.
Dallas, on the other hand, have won four straight, albeit against low-ranking opposition. But with the difficult run home they have, the victories were of the upmost importance.
The biggest battle here is for Dallas to shut down Houston’s big scorers, James Harden and Trevor Ariza, who can then link up with Dwight Howard – who is shooting over 60 per cent for the season – on the inside.
It will be down to Dirk Nowitski, and his patrolling of the paint, to put pressure on Howard.
The Rockets lead the season series two games to one, and now get to finish it all off at home. Their last meeting, towards the end of January in Houston, was the most convincing – winning by 11 points as Trevor Ariza scored 29, James Harden scored 23 and chipped in with ten assists and 15 rebounds.
Prediction
The Rockets have a good record this season against the Mavericks, have been knocking off some big teams, have attacking weapons, and plenty to play – they should get the job done at home.
Houston by 7.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from 11:30am (AEDT) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below as the action unfolds.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde
Build your own ultimate team! Pick your key players and take a shot at big cash prizes every day with Draftstars. For great odds on NBA games every day head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.