NBA · Finalupdated 01:35 UTC

Houston Rockets vs Dallas Mavericks

at Dallas Mavericks

DAL expected to win by about 6.5 · both teams together expected to score about 226 points · odds to win: HOU 3.21, DAL 1.40

Game odds from Pinnacle (the bookmaker we use as the reference), Fri 00:25 UTC

HOU 108 – DAL 102

Final

We had no picks in this game; every posted line is still scored below.

Getting a better price than most bookmakers offer is the only thing that made money in our past tests, measured on WNBA bets; NBA has not been measured yet. Player rates are context, not tips.

Explore every player and prop

How to read this page

A pick is a player line, for example Under 13.5 points, that we published before the game together with the price we found for it. We do not take bets.
Odds are shown in the decimal format: 1.93 means you get back 1.93 for every 1 staked, so a higher number pays more. The American format (−108 means risk 108 to win 100; +111 means risk 100 to win 111) appears only in the Data log at the bottom of the page.
'Posted at' is the price we found when we published the pick; 'better' is a higher price for the same line at another bookmaker. Taking the better price is the one thing on this page that made money over many past bets; that was measured on WNBA bets, and NBA has not been measured yet.
'Market puts Under at 48.5%' is the chance implied by all bookmakers' prices together, with their built-in margin removed. Pinnacle is a bookmaker whose prices are widely treated as the most accurate reference, so it is the one we compare against.
A player's rate is how often that player has gone over the line in every game we hold since the 2019-20 season (not only this season), for example over in 41 of 78 games (52.6%), with a likely range such as 32–52%: fewer games means a wider range, and under 10 games we show no rate word at all.
'Past record stronger than the price' means the whole likely range sits above the chance the bookmakers' price implies; 'weaker' means below; 'agrees with the price' means the price sits inside the range, which is the usual case. None of these is a tip.
'Not measurable' is the usual honest answer: too few games to tell a real difference from chance.
'What could go wrong' lists the facts that can change a line: who is out, whether the starting lineup is confirmed, expected playing time (RotoWire's estimate), rest, and how many bookmakers price each line.
After the final, every pick is checked against the official stats and compared with the last price before the game started, the market's most informed price; getting a better price than that is the fairest test of a pick, whether or not it won. A tie means the player landed exactly on the line and the stake is returned; lines ending in .5 cannot tie.
Results are given for every 1 staked: 'would have returned +0.93' means a stake of 1 would have come back with 0.93 in profit. We do not stake anything; the record is what a stake of 1 on each pick would have done. Our record counts a smaller stake when the price advantage was small.
S beside a name marks an expected starter. Times are shown in your device's time zone; our data is recorded in US Eastern Time (ET). Team codes are the league's three-letter abbreviations.
'Your prediction' lets you pick Over or Under on any line before the game starts; we check your predictions the same way and keep your record, and one game of results proves nothing.
Team codes on this page: HOU = Houston Rockets, DAL = Dallas Mavericks.

Picks and prices

Odds of at least 1.70 only · highest odds first · results checked

A line is the number a bookmaker sets, e.g. 13.5 points; Over means more than it, Under fewer. Odds 1.93 pay 1.93 for every 1 staked. 'Posted at' is the price we found when we published the pick; after the game it is compared with the last price before the start.

We had no picks in this game.

Why the better price matters

A higher price for the same line pays more whenever the pick wins; that is arithmetic, not a forecast.

What taking the best price is worth has been measured only on WNBA lines (25 Aug 2026); NBA has not been measured yet.

The players

10 players checked · 6 whose past record points the other way from the bookmakers' price · 0 out · 0 with too few games

Rate: the share of every game we hold for the player since the 2019-20 season (not only this season) in which the player finished above tonight's line. S beside a name marks an expected starter.

Against this opponent, 1 of 10 players has performed clearly differently and 3 show a slight hint · No starting lineup yet; showing every player with a line

Context only A player's rate describes the past; it is not a tip and has not been tested as one. Expected minutes come from RotoWire, a lineup news service.

Sign in to see each player's rate The numbers below (for example 15.5 points) are the lines the bookmakers actually posted.

Houston Rocketsplaying DAL

Alperen Sengun · minutes unknown

assists 3.5 → 4 actual

Amen Thompson · minutes unknown

points 7.5 → 10 actual

Fred VanVleet · minutes unknown

3-pointers 3.5 → 0 actual

Jabari Smith Jr. · minutes unknown

3-pointers 1.5 → 1 actual

Tari Eason · minutes unknown

points 7.5 → 15 actual

Dallas Mavericksplaying HOU

Daniel Gafford · minutes unknown

points 8.5 → 6 actual

Dereck Lively II · minutes unknown

rebounds 8.5 → 3 actual

Kyrie Irving · minutes unknown

points 23.5 → 28 actual

Naji Marshall · minutes unknown

points 4.5 → 4 actual

P.J. Washington · minutes unknown

3-pointers 1.5 → 0 actual

What could go wrong

updated 01:35 UTC

Who is out

Injury report not checked yet: none has reached us for this game, so an empty list here does not mean everyone plays.

Lineups

Expected starting lineup, not yet confirmed

Playing time

No playing-time estimates yet.

Rest

Both teams had at least two days between their last game and this one.

Bookmakers

The reference bookmaker, Pinnacle, offers 0 of the 218 lines; the rest rely on other bookmakers.

Every pick is priced by at least 2 bookmakers.

When a player is out, that player's lines are removed: in our past results this helped. Guessing which teammates benefit was also tested and lost money, so nothing else on this page is adjusted for it.

What happened

In 4 of 6 cases where a player's past record disagreed with the bookmakers' price, the past record was right in this game. One game proves nothing.

FinalWe had no picks in this game · every posted line is still scored below

10 other players with a posted line

Fred VanVleet · 3-pointers 3.5 → 0 · 3.5 below the line · played 39.3 min · BetRivers odds: Over 2.25, Under 1.60

Tari Eason · points 7.5 → 15 · 7.5 above the line · played 18.7 min · FanDuel odds: Over 1.93, Under 1.89

P.J. Washington · 3-pointers 1.5 → 0 · 1.5 below the line · played 37.4 min · BetRivers odds: Over 1.82, Under 1.93

Dereck Lively II · rebounds 8.5 → 3 · 5.5 below the line · played 15 min · BetRivers odds: Over 2.80, Under 1.41

Amen Thompson · points 7.5 → 10 · 2.5 above the line · played 18 min · Bovada odds: Over 1.74, Under 2.05

Jabari Smith Jr. · 3-pointers 1.5 → 1 · 0.5 below the line · played 29.3 min · BetRivers odds: Over 1.94, Under 1.80

Daniel Gafford · points 8.5 → 6 · 2.5 below the line · played 15.1 min · BetRivers odds: Over 1.33, Under 2.88

Kyrie Irving · points 23.5 → 28 · 4.5 above the line · played 42.8 min · BetRivers odds: Over 1.38, Under 2.70

Alperen Sengun · assists 3.5 → 4 · 0.5 above the line · played 34.8 min · BetRivers odds: Over 2.63, Under 1.44

Naji Marshall · points 4.5 → 4 · 0.5 below the line · played 21.6 min · Caesars odds: Over 1.76, Under 1.96

Each prediction is recorded as if you had staked 1 at the line you saw, and your record is shown here. One game tells you nothing yet.

More context

Head to head

DAL vs HOU · last 25 games · DAL leads · DAL record 15–10 · average score 108.6–106.7 · DAL has won by 1.9 on average

Team results are background only; they say nothing about any single player's line.

31 Jan · DAL 107 at HOU 111DAL lost

What each defense gives up per game

Team defense unavailable right now.

Defense by position

How much this is worth

Defense-by-position numbers are mostly random from season to season; shown for context only. We tested it: a team's defense-by-position numbers from one half of the season do not predict the other half, so treat them as noise.

Defense by position unavailable right now.

How the game odds moved

Pinnacle first had DAL expected to win by 6.5, expected total 226 (Fri 00:25 UTC) and had not changed it by Fri 00:25 UTC.

The odds at the top of the page are the latest we have, from every bookmaker on file; this is one bookmaker's own history.

Data log (technical)

Technical detail for auditing; the plain version is above. Internal ids and formula names print here only.

Line-shopping measurement: project_conditional_minutes_refuted

Our picks, raw · 0

No raw pick rows for this game.

Checked results, raw (basketball-stats shorthand) · 0

No graded rows for this game.

Data fetches · 49

sds history (h2h)ok · 10 ms

sds injuries/game/{id}ok 200 · 12 ms

dh lineups/{id}/deltaok 200 · 13 ms

grading picks/nightlyok 200 · 14 ms

sds rest/team (away)ok 200 · 15 ms

odds game timelineok 200 · 16 ms

sds schedule/team (meetings)ok · 17 ms

grading verdict/boardok 200 · 24 ms

sds lineups/{id}ok 200 · 95 ms

sds games/{id}ok 200 · 97 ms

sds defense/team (away)failed 500 · 97 ms

sds analytics opponent_defense (away)failed 400 · 99 ms

sds players/team (away)ok 200 · 5 ms

sds players/team (home)ok 200 · 6 ms

sds games/{id}/boxscoreok 200 · 111 ms

sds analytics opponent_defense (home)failed 400 · 112 ms

sds defense/team (home)failed 500 · 112 ms

sds rest/team (home)ok 200 · 126 ms

odds player timeline (points)ok 200 · 32 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 38 ms

odds player timeline (assists)ok 200 · 41 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (three_pointers_made)ok 200 · 46 ms

odds player timeline (threes)ok 200 · 47 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 47 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 48 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (three_pointers_made)ok 200 · 52 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 59 ms

grading clv/picksok 200 · 148 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (points)ok 200 · 65 ms

odds player timeline (rebounds)ok 200 · 73 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (points)ok 200 · 83 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (rebounds)ok 200 · 160 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 165 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (assists)ok 200 · 177 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (points)ok 200 · 186 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (points)ok 200 · 194 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (three_pointers_made)ok 200 · 202 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 206 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 207 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 210 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 209 ms

sds analytics player_vs_teamok 200 · 219 ms

sds analytics player_vs_line (points)ok 200 · 241 ms

odds player timeline (threes)ok 200 · 711 ms

odds player timeline (points)ok 200 · 713 ms

odds player timeline (points)ok 200 · 715 ms

odds player timeline (threes)ok 200 · 718 ms

odds player timeline (points)ok 200 · 717 ms

odds player timeline (points)ok 200 · 777 ms

Classic view →

The older, longer version of this page is still available as the classic view. Nothing there is tracked in our results; this page is.