Houston Rockets arrive at Dallas looking to win their 8th match in a row, against the struggling Dallas Mavericks, who are on the verge of losing their 5th straight match. This will mark the 4th H2H match between Dallas and Houston and the 2nd time the teams met at American Airlines Center.

Houston Rockets come into the next fixture as the 3rd team in the West with an overall record of 40-25 and an impressive 7 games winning streak behind them. In the course of the last 7 matches, Rockets managed to defeat GSW (112:118), Hawks (119:111), Hornets (113:118), Heat (121:118), Celtics (104:115), Raptors (95:107) and most recently 76ers (107:91).

As it stands now, Rockets are climbing up the Western Conference standings fast, and with their impressive 7-0 run, they are eyeing the 2nd spot, which they could take away from Denver Nuggets. However, with 3 games out, Rockets will hope to continue with their strong performances in the next 3 fixtures. Their road to the 2nd spot in the West will start with a fixture against the state-rivals Dallas Mavericks, who have defeated Houston at American Airlines Center once before.

Dallas Mavericks enter this match as a 1-9 team in the last 10 fixtures, which is the worst record in the Western Conference. While their 1-4 run in the last 5 fixtures does not look too promising, Dallas Mavericks should be motivated to perform up to par against Houston Rockets, as they did in the last 2 fixtures. Looking at the last 5 fixtures of Dallas Mavericks, they managed to win against Indiana Pacers on February 28th (110:101), but it all went downhill from that day onwards. Dallas lost the next 4 fixtures against Memphis Grizzlies (81:111), Brooklyn Nets (127:88), Washington Wizards (132:123) and most recently Orlando Magic (111:106).

Dallas Mavericks have got Kleber listed as questionable for this match, which is the only new injury report from this team. Houston Rockets on the other side they will remain without Faried, however, James Harden is expected to return after X-ray of his wrist confirming he is capable of playing.

The Houston defence has improved a lot since they switched into the "playoff mode", which was seen in excellent numbers against some of the top teams in the league. While they can defend their basket well against the best, I am confident saying they will be a bit lazy against Dallas, who are considered a low-tier team. On the other side, Dallas Maverick have a lot to prove when they face their state-rivals. Looking at their recent matches, Dallas have not been playing well enough in the defence, especially at their 3pt line. That alone is a huge problem for them when they face Rockets, who are the best team when it comes to scoring from behind the arc. Nonetheless, the Houston-Dallas matches always end up as exciting ones, and while I do believe Rockets are heavy favourites, who can't afford to lose this one, I am still expecting a good fight from the hosts in a highly entertaining, fast-paced match.

Prediction: Over 223.5