The Luka Doncic-less Mavericks make the short trip to Houston for a date with the Rockets, as both teams look to end 2-game losing streaks. Dallas is hoping to get at least Kyrie Irving back for this game; he sat out Monday’s loss at Sacramento. He had an efficient 28 points and 7 assists in the first meeting against Houston, and with Doncic out of the lineup he will have to do the heavy lifting to keep the Mavs in this one. Experience is one thing Dallas can count on here; it used to that to their advantage in head-to-head encounters, winning 10 of the last 13. This team is also 5-1 SU in its last 6 visits to the Toyota Center.

For the first time this season we saw Houston lose back-to-back home games vs Minnesota and Miami. The best rebounding team in the NBA failed to win the battle on the boards in both of those games, so that’s one thing to keep an eye on here. Houston averages almost 7 more rebounds per game than Dallas and with Dereck Lively II and Naji Marshall potentially both missing this game, they could have the edge. Despite those 2 losses, Houston is still a formidable 10-3 SU in its last 13 home games and has covered in 10 of 16 this season at the Toyota Center.

There’s not much that separates these 2 teams. Losing your best player to an injury normally rallies the troops a bit and I expect just that to happen here for the Mavericks. Irving is averaging 33.8 points per game in the last 5 meetings, with a big game from him the Mavs will keep this one close. I’m taking the road underdogs to cover.

Mavericks vs Rockets prediction: Dallas +5.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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