Mavericks, Rockets meet Friday in first NBA Cup group stage action of the season

Houston Rockets (5-0, first in the Western Conference) vs. Dallas Mavericks (3-2, seventh in the Western Conference); Friday, 7 p.m. CST

LINE: Rockets -4.5; over/under is 226.5

BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Rockets visit the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA Cup in-season tournament group play matchup.

Dallas went 26-56 overall and 14-37 in Western Conference play a season ago. The Mavericks gave up 119.6 points per game while committing 18.4 fouls last season.

Houston went 52-30 overall, 10-6 in Southwest Division action and 22-19 on the road last season. The Rockets averaged 8.5 steals, 5.8 blocks and 14.4 turnovers per game last season.

The teams meet for the second time this season. In the last meeting on Oct. 22, the Rockets won 128-110, led by 30 points from Jabari Smith Jr., while Cooper Flagg scored 32 points for the Mavericks.

INJURIES: Mavericks: Santi Aldama: out (knee), Tarik Biberovic: out (heel), Sergio De Larrea: out (knee), Dereck Lively II: out (foot), Naji Marshall: out (illness).

Rockets: Alperen Sengun: day-to-day (back), Marcus Smart: day-to-day (forearm), Steven Adams: out (soleus).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.