Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks game preview

And it’s back to the drawing board. After winning two to move back to .500, the Rockets promptly dropped two in a row to move back to 11-13. Tonight, the Rockets will travel to Dallas to play against a surging Mavericks squad.

It’s getting old to write about, but the Rockets have to find a way to adjust to the way teams are attacking them. Last season, teams tried to use ball movement or even drives to the basket, but it wasn’t enough. This season, players like Devin Harris and J.J. Barea have carved up the Houston defense. They’ll get another chance tonight.

As for the Eric Gordon comments about how he’s not having fun, it’s clear that the team is frustrated. Nothing is going right, and the guy they brought in to keep everyone in line (Chris Paul) is probably playing worse than anyone else compared to his ceiling. We’ve gone around in circles looking for scapegoats this season (Carmelo? MDA? Morey?), but the more I think about it, the more I see CP3’s poor play as the biggest contributing reason to the poor play, at least on offense. Defensively, everyone is culpable.

I expect this game to go similarly to the last time these teams met. Houston has no defense against ball penetration, and that’s the thing Dallas has in spades. This thing will probably be over at halftime. I hope I’m wrong, but I doubt it.

Tip-off is at 5pm CT