The Houston Rockets pay a visit to the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center on Saturday night.

The Houston Rockets have been in a rut lately as they’ve lost five of their past seven games, but they will be aiming to build some momentum after snapping a three-game skid with last night’s 103-102 road win over the Pistons. Eric Gordon led the team with 20 points, PJ Tucker added 15 points while Jae’Sean Tate and David Nwaba each scored 13 points. As a team, the Rockets shot 38 percent from the field and 14 of 41 from the 3-point line as they stormed out of the gates with 34 points in the first quarter to take an early 20-point lead, before escaping with the naritem win as the Pistons missed on two chances to steal the game late. Victor Oladipo finished with just 13 points on four of 16 shooting while DeMarcus Cousins finished with five points, 15 rebounds and seven assists on two of 16 shooting.

Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks have been in decent shape as they’ve won eight of their first 15 games and they will be aiming for a third straight victory after last night’s 122-117 win over the Spurs. Luka Doncic led the team with 36 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists, Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. each scored 21 points while Jalen Brunson chipped in with 16 points and six assists. As a team, the Mavericks shot 48 percent from the field and 14 of 39 from the 3-point line as they set the tone with 68 points in the first half to lead by as many as 18 points, before pulling away for the naritem win after the Spurs drew to within one point.

Looking at the betting trends, the Rockets are 1-4 ATS in their last five road games, 1-7 ATS in their last eight games playing on zero days rest and 8-20 ATS in their last 28 games overall. The Mavericks are 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games against a team with a losing record and 6-2 ATS in their last eight games overall.

Head to head, the under is 11-5-1 in the last 17 meetings overall, the Rockets are 1-4 ATS in the last five meetings overall and the Rockets are 5-2 ATS in the last seven meetings in Dallas.

The Rockets haven’t been able to get on a roll since the big trade and they were far from convincing in their naritem win over the slumping Pistons last night, while the Mavericks are starting to heat up with a couple of nice wins on the trot. The Rockets are 1-7 ATS in their last eight games playing on zero days rest and they are just 1-4 ATS in the last five meetings overall, so I’m sticking with Doncic and the Mavericks to get the job done with a win and cover here.