NBA Basketball Matchup: Mavericks vs Rockets
In that game, Dirk Nowitzki had 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Shawn Marion and Jason Terry added 21 points for the Mavericks, who completed a four-game season sweep over the Rockets for the first time since 2002-03.
Date/Time: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 24, 2012
Venue: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Broadcast: TBD
Spread: Houston -3.5
Over/Under: 195
Dallas will play its second game in as many nights as they continue to battle for top honors in the Lone Star State when they arrive in Houston on Saturday night.
Jason Terry scored six points in overtime and the Dallas Mavericks held off the host Houston Rockets in overtime en route to a 98-91 victory the last time the two teams met back in April 2011.
The Rockets Kevin Martin scored 28 points, and Goran Dragic had 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, but a slow start in the OT period would end Houston’s chances of winning the game.
Heading into Friday night’s bout with the San Antonio Spurs, the Mavs’ (27-21) were clinging to a 1/2-game lead over the Clippers, Nuggets and Grizzlies for fourth spot in the Western Conference. Houston(26-22) in the meantime, was hanging on to the eighth and final playoff position just 1-game behind Dallas.
The Mavericks who are in the midst of playing four of their next five games away from Big D, are in the middle of 10 straight contests against playoff-hopeful opponents. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
In their game against the Lakers earlier in the week, the Mavs had a four-game winning streak halted after breaking down defensively, and suffering from shot making droughts throughout the game.
Before that Dallas had scored 100-plus points in their previous four contests.
They were also just 9-13 as the visitor this season, but ended a seven- game slide as the guest with a 112-95 win at Denver on Monday.
Mavs’ forward Shawn Marion missed his third straight game with a sore left knee on Friday in San Antonio, bur has been listed as probable for Saturday’s game. Marion is averaging 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds this season.
Meanwhile, the Rockets are riding a two-game winning streak after following up their 107-104 win over Los Angeles on Tuesday, with a 109-83 drubbing of Golden State.
Playing once again without the starting backcourt of Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin, Houston went to the inside early and attacked the basket.
Chandler Parsons recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Dragic had another strong game as Houston dominated the glass 48-31, rushing out to an early 30-18 lead and never looked back.
Free Pick: Houston– The Rockets are playing much more solidly than Dallas at the moment, and I expect the back-to-back games to factor into this one, and that just doesn’t favor a veteran Dallas team.
