Houston Rockets being ‘aggressive’ sharers ahead of tilt with Dallas Mavericks
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Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant dribbling against Brooklyn Nets forward Ziaire Williams at Barclays Center on Jan 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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DALLAS – As the Houston Rockets ride a four-game National Basketball Association (NBA) winning streak into the Jan 3 visit (Jan 4, Singapore time) to Dallas, the Mavericks look to end a four-game slide.
Houston opened a stretch playing five of six on the road with a 120-96 rout of the Brooklyn Nets on Jan 1.
What has been vital is that the team are sharing the scoring load.
Amen Thompson’s 23 points led six Rockets scoring 14-plus points, with Kevin Durant adding 22 and Alperen Sengun going for 20.
The 37-year-old Durant also dished a season-high 11 assists.
The 15-time All-Star and 2013-14 Most Valuable Player averages 4.5 assists to go with his five rebounds and team-leading 25.4 points per game as Houston move into the 2026 portion of their schedule.
He leads a contingent of four Rockets averaging at least 15.8 points, a quartet also featuring Sengun (22.6), Thompson (18) and Jabari Smith Jr (15.8).
“Everybody’s being aggressive sharing the ball as long as we don’t turn it over,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “When teams double Alperen and Kevin, if we get to our spots and are very decisive with our actions, we look good.”
To that end, Houston are scoring 120.5 points per game, tied for fourth in the NBA, while shooting 49.4 per cent as a team, fourth in the league.
In two previous matchups with Dallas this season, however, the Rockets scored well below their average.
They split with a 110-102 win on Nov 3 in Houston and lost 122-109 in Dallas in December.
Mavericks big man Anthony Davis would be one to watch as he went for 29 points and eight rebounds in that latest clash.
The 32-year-old Davis, who has dealt with a variety of injury issues since his trade to Dallas from the Los Angeles Lakers last season, returned to the line-up after a brief absence to score 13 points and grab eight rebounds in the Mavericks’ 123-108 home defeat by the Philadelphia 76ers on Jan 1.
“We’d like for him to take down more shots. He turned down a couple,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said of Davis’ six-of-13 shooting against Philadelphia.
The New Year’s Day defeat marked the third game in Dallas’ four-game losing streak in which the Mavericks surrendered at least 123 points. They rank 21st in the NBA with 117.9 points allowed per game.
The scoring success of Dallas’ opponents has come with Davis missing 18 of 35 games this season, Dereck Lively II out for the season with a foot injury and Daniel Gafford missing 11 games.
Dallas have both Davis and Gafford in their front-court rotation ahead of the Jan 3 matchup, so they will be seeking to improve on their performance.
The roster flux the Mavericks have faced has required No. 1 overall draft and rookie Cooper Flagg to carry a significant load. His 19.2 points per game are second only to Davis’ 20.1. REUTERS
