basketball | Friday, December 23, 2022 12:51 PM

Houston Rockets vs Dallas Mavericks Best Bet: Texas Showdown in Houston

Milan Stanojic

Houston Rockets vs Dallas Mavericks Best Bet: Friday, December 23rd

The Houston Rockets are taking on the Dallas Mavericks at home tonight in their second encounter of the season. They won their first encounter in Dallas by 89-101, but the majority of bettors are picking the Mavs to get their revenge tonight.

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Houston Rockets vs Dallas Mavericks Preview
Houston Rockets vs Dallas Mavericks Best Bet

Houston Rockets vs Dallas Mavericks Preview

Sat, Dec 24th. 00:00 (UK time)

The Houston Rockets are without a doubt one of the worst teams the NBA has to offer this year. They are dead last in the Western Conference with just 9 wins and 22 losses and are riding a 4-game losing streak. However, they’ve actually been respectable when playing at Toyota Center, earning 6 of their 9 wins at home with an ATS record of 6-3-1. This ranks them 8th in the league in that regard, which is by itself impressive, especially for such a young and rebuilding team.

The Rockets are among the worst teams in the league in just about every category you can name on both sides of the floor. They’re ranking 27th in offensive, 28th in defensive rating whilst averaging just 109.5 (28th) points per game and allowing 115.4 (20th). As a young team, it’s expected that they make a lot of mistakes, but 17.4 turnovers per game is not going to get you a lot of wins. However, this is exactly why the squares are refusing to touch the Rockets this year, and why we are backing them tonight.

The Dallas Mavericks are having a very disappointing season so far. With a 16-16 record, they are 9th in the west – nowhere near their goal for this year. They have won half of their last 10 and are coming off a 99-104 win against the Timberwolves on the road. But the general trend for the Mavs on the road has been disappointing. They have a 4-11 record away from American Airlines, and a 6-9 record against the spread.

With 32 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists per game, Doncic is by far the best player on their team but is lacking the support he needs to take this team to the next level. Their offensive rating drops by 4.5 points when playing on the road, whilst allowing 9 points per game more. This isn’t a team that can play consistently in the west at the moment, and I have no problem betting against them tonight.

Houston Rockets vs Dallas Mavericks Best Bet

The Rockets are available at 3.05 to take the win tonight, whilst the Mavs are favourites at 1.45. According to Unibet, 91% of punters are backing the Mavs to come away with this one, whilst the majority of money is being placed on the Rockets.

The Mavs are slow, they have some injury issues with Finney-Smith, Kemba, Kleber and Green, and they’re playing the last of their 4-game road trip. The only thing in their heads will be getting back on that bus and heading back to Dallas. I don’t expect a very inspiring performance out of them tonight. The +6.5 points on Houston are looking very enticing.