WATCH: Mavericks at Rockets on Playback

Watch this big NBA matchup on Playback.

The Houston Rockets will host the Dallas Mavericks in tonight’s marquee NBA matchup. At 8 p.m., you can watch the game with Tony Pesta on Playback.

Both teams enter tonight’s matchup on a two-game skid. The Rockets currently sit in third place in the Western Conference, just 1.5 games ahead of the Mavericks. This game could have significant implications for the final standings, even though it’s only January 1.

Luka Doncic will be sidelined for at least one month with a calf injury. But the Mavericks will be able to rely on the shot-making abilities of Kyrie Irving to keep them afloat. Irving is averaging 24.6 points on a career-best 44.5% shooting clip from the three-point line.

Meanwhile, the Rockets have been one of the league’s breakout teams. Their bone-crushing defense makes them a threat on any given night. Full of supreme athletes, Houston has the second-best Defensive Rating in the NBA.

We’ll be watching how Irving and the Mavericks look to overcome an elite Houston defense. Both teams will be without key players due to suspension. Naji Marshall (Dallas) is dealing with a four-game suspension after an altercation with Jusuf Nurkic — while Houston’s Amen Thompson is out for two-games for his fight with Tyler Herro.

INJURY REPORT:

Mavericks: Luka Doncic - OUT (calf), Dante Exum - OUT (wrist), Dereck Lively II - QUESTIONABLE (hip), Naji Marshall - OUT (suspension)

Rockets: Tari Eason - QUESTIONABLE, Amen Thompson - OUT (suspension), N’Faly Dante - OUT (G League), Jack McVeigh - OUT (G League), Nate Williams - OUT (G League)

If you want to watch games with us — either tonight or in the future — it’s super easy to sign up:

• First, head over to playback.tv and create an account with your email address
• Then connect and select your NBA League Pass login as your streaming account (sign up for League Pass here first if you don’t have it)
• After that, go to https://www.playback.tv/fearthesword and hit the JOIN button
• Finally, make sure to activate push notifications so you know when we’re going live!

You can join in on all of the action HERE. We will be live shortly after 7:30 pm, and you can also listen in right here on FTS in the player below.