NBA Picks: Houston Rockets at Dallas Mavericks
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Dallas Mavericks will go for their third straight win when they host the Houston Rockets Thursday night. This is the second of four games these two teams will play this season. The Mavericks beat the Rockets 101-91 at home back on Nov. 29. Tip-off is set for 8:30 ET at American Airlines Center.
The Rockets also come into the game winners of two in a row. Houston was able to hold off the Timberwolves for a 129-125 win at Minnesota on Monday, and then followed that up with a 96-83 win at home against the Clippers on Wednesday. This is the first of four straight on the road for the Rockets, which includes stops at San Antonio, LA Lakers, and Utah.
The Mavericks held off a stingy Clippers team in their last game, beating Los Angeles 112-105 on Tuesday. Dallas hasn’t won more than two straight since the end of December when they rolled off five in a row, but are coming off two impressive performance on their home court.
Taking a look at the NBA spreads for this game, oddsmakers have the Mavericks favored by 6-points over the Rockets with the total set at 204.5.
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The Rockets are hoping that they will be able to continue their recent success on the road. New York has won three of four away from home, but are still just 9-15 on the road this season. One concern for the Rockets has to be their defense on the road. Houston is allowing an average of 110 points over their last seven road games.
Defense wasn’t an issue in the Rockets win over the Clippers last night. Houston held Los Angeles to just 36.4% shooting and held Blake Griffin to just 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Rockets defense was at its best late, as Houston outscored the Clippers 26-10 in the fourth quarter.
Kyle Lowry scored a team-high 20 points, Luis Scola had 16, and Aaron Brooks came off the bench to score 16 points in 26 minutes. The Rockets won despite getting little to nothing from Kevin Martin, who finished with just eight points on 3-11 shooting. Martin was averaging 26 points over his last four games, including a 34 point night in his last game out against the Timberwolves.
The Mavericks defense didn’t fair quite as well against the Clippers, as they allowed them to shoot 55.7% from the field, but they did force the Clippers into 22 turnovers and did a much better job in the second half.
Offensively the Mavericks had a bunch of guys have big nights. Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points, Tyson Chandler scored a season-high 21 points, Jason Terry came off the bench to score a season-high 28 points, and Jose Juan Barea had 26 points off the bench as well.
All this with Jason Kidd scored just 1-point, on 0-4 shooting. The Mavericks bench outscored the Clippers bench 63-28, and if they continue to have guys come in and play well, they are going to be a very tough team to beat.
While I like the Mavericks to win this game, and cover the spread, I think the over is a great play as well. Dallas has allowed 100 points or more in each of their last three home games, and I already mentioned how bad Houston is defensively on the road.
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