The Dallas Mavericks play host to the Houston Rockets in Orlando on Friday.

The Rockets are one of the most interesting teams heading into this abbreviated season. They made a huge splash by trading Clint Capela earlier in the year and it has made them the shortest team in the NBA. They even had games where P.J. Tucker was starting at center and no player above 6'6" coming off the bench. That's simply Mike D'Antoni's style though and it's catered to their superstars beautifully. That happens to be Russell Westbrook and James Harden, who combine for about 60 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists per game. That puts a lot of pressure on the role players to perform when asked and they have an uphill battle ahead of them with Eric Gordon out for two weeks due to an ankle issue. Look for Robert Covington and Danuel House to get more work in his absence.

The Mavericks have just as many wins as the Rockets, sitting at 40 apiece. With that said, Dallas has three more losses and these restart seedings will ultimately be determined by winning percentage. That makes this matchup very critical and a lot of emphasis will be on that of Luka Doncic. The sophomore superstar is averaging 28.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game this season, which is truly absurd for a 21-year-old kid. The next step is to get some help for him, as Kristaps Porzingis is the only other star on this roster. What they really need is Tim Hardaway Jr or Delon Wright to show more consistency. Those role players have all the talent in the world and a step up from one of those guys could make this team a true contender sooner rather than later.

This marks the third meeting between these teams, splitting those two outings. They were both high-scoring outings, averaging a combined 255 points per game.