On 9th of December, we will see Dallas Mavericks hosting Houston Rockets at American Airlines Center in the Western Conference match-up.
Dallas Mavericks are currently 9th in the West with an overall record of 12-11, and 3-2 in the last 5 games played. However, they are extremely good at home, where they hold a 10-2 record, which is 3rd best in the West. In addition, the Mavs, have not lost a home match since 7th November, which translates into 8 consecutive wins. Let’s look at their most recent match against Pelicans at Smoothie King Center, which ended Dallas Mavericks 2 game winning run. The first quarter saw Pelicans shooting with much higher accuracy from the field (63.6%) compared to Dallas (50%), however, it was the Mavs who performed much better from behind the arc, hitting half of their attempts, while Pelicans only scored 1 out of 3 3-point shots. With those performances, the 1st quarter ended 32:31 for the home side. Moving to the 2nd quarter, Pelicans outscored Mavs once again, only this time they shot much better from the 3pt line (66.7%) in addition to having 58.3 FG%. Mavs on the other hand only shot with 30.8% accuracy and 25% from behind the arc. With a poor performance from the Mavs in the 2nd quarter, Pelicans got a high 16 point lead prior to the 2nd half of the match. The 3rd quarter was once again close (28:27), but it was the last quarter, when Pelicans were the dominant force once again, outscoring Mavs by 9 points. The match ended in a high win for Pelicans (132:106), which was their 13th win of the season.
Visiting side tonight, Houston Rockets are struggling, as they lost 6 out of the last 8 games played. With a win against SA Spurs and Chicago Bulls only a day later (2nd December), the future looked bright for Houston, but they failed to win their next 2 matches against Minnesota Timberwolves (103:91) and Utah Jazz (118:91). Currently, Rockets are 14th in the West with an overall record of 11-13. It has become clear, Houston is far from what we have seen last season, however, the season is still “young” and with the right approach and some changes they just might end up in the playoffs, if of course, they can drastically improve. Looking at their last match against Utah Jazz, Houston severely underperformed in the 3rd quarter, when they were outscored by 27 points! At the end of the 3rd quarter, Houston were already 35 point behind due to them being outscored by 9 in the opening quarter. At this point, the loss was certain for Rockets, but they pushed for a better result in the last quarter, where they did perform better than the Jazz (27:35), however, the final result was still miles away from a good result for them. Final score: 118:91. The fact that Jazz played without their Defensive player fo the year (Gobert) and still won is, on one hand, impressive, and on the other makes this loss that much more disappointing for Houston.
Houston Rockets are not only one of the worst defensive teams at the moment, but also lack any good offensive ideas. In their last match against Utah Jazz, Rockets shot with only 38.6% accuracy even though Jazz had to play without Gobert. Even against Minnesota Timberwolves, their shooting was not much better (43.2 FG%). Mavericks on the other side, are performing much better, especially at home. They do have some issues themselves with DeAndre Jordan, but he has proven before that he can and will step up in important matches, and the next one is just that. Looking at the last H2H matches between Houston and Dallas, it was Rockets who won last 5 matches, but this time around, Dallas is a better side, especially with all the problems Houston is having at the moment. Expect Dallas to add their 11th win at home.
Prediction: Dallas Mavericks +2.00 points
Odds: 2.14 Asianodds
