Dallas at Houston

Dallas and Houston both open tonight with no 2026-27 games behind them, so the number leans on names and last season's reputations. Houston is working in Fred VanVleet, who missed all of last season, and Steven Adams, who played 32 games and is listed as questionable with a calf issue. Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic are also new. That is a lot of rotation to settle in a first game. Dallas is without Dereck Lively II, Santi Aldama, and Caleb Martin, which leaves the frontcourt thin against Houston's size. Lively played only seven games all of last season. The home team won all four meetings between the clubs. Houston took its two home games 110-102 on November 3 and 111-107 on January 31, winning by 8 and 4, while Dallas won at home 122-109 and 110-104. Cooper Flagg averaged 18.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in those four games, and Kyrie Irving returns after a 19-month absence. I'm taking Dallas with the points.