Mavericks at Rockets
The Houston Rockets should be happy to get home. The Rockets lost their sixth straight road game on Friday, getting crushed by the in-state rival San Antonio Spurs. Back in the comforts of Toyota Center on Saturday, Houston will try to knock off a different in-state foe when the Dallas Mavericks come to town. The Mavericks have won two of three and will be looking to crawl back to .500.
James Harden worked his way out of a shooting slump, scoring 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting, but the rest of the Rockets struggled on both ends as they were crushed by the Spurs, 114-92. But Houston has been a different team at home, winning six in a row at Toyota Center while averaging 112 points. Dallas is showing signs of pulling out of its offensive slump. The Mavericks will need all the points they can find if they hope to stretch their winning streak over the Rockets to eight straight.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Southwest (Dallas), Comcast SportsNet Houston
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (9-10): Dallas snapped a three-game road losing streak with a 97-94 triumph at Phoenix on Thursday, getting 56 points off the bench to make up for the struggles of the starting five. O.J. Mayo has been the only consistent scoring threat on the starting unit and the team in general, averaging 19.8 points on 47.3 percent shooting. The Mavericks have been held under the 100-point mark in each of their last six games but have managed to overcome those woes by locking down on the defensive end in their last two victories. They held the Detroit Pistons to 77 points in a win last Saturday and limited the Suns to 40 percent in Thursday’s win.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (9-9): Houston ranks second in the NBA in scoring (103.7 points) but also ranks 29th in opponents scoring (102.6 points allowed). The Rockets could not keep pace with the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, getting outscored in every quarter and falling behind by more than 30 points in the fourth. Harden was the only player to score more than 10 for Houston. It has been a different story at Toyota Center, where they put six players in double figures despite shooting only 37.6 percent in a 107-105 home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. Point guard Jeremy Lin has been struggling lately, totaling eight points on 4-of-17 shooting in the last two games. Lin has not been getting to the line either, and has attempted only six free throws in the last seven games combined.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Dallas has won in each of its last three trips to Houston, with the last two going to overtime.
2. Lin is shooting just 37.8 percent from the floor, including 23.9 percent from 3-point range.
3. The Mavericks are 2-1 since adding veteran point guard Derek Fisher, who has averaged 6.3 points in just over 24 minutes.