The Chicago Bulls took a beating last night at the hands of the Thunder, but they look to resporn today against the Houston Rockets. What are the odds makers offering us, and where should we place our NBA picks?
Two
teams coming off of tough Sunday losses square off at the United Center this
evening. The Thunder blew out the Bulls yesterday afternoon, while the Rockets
lost a tough one to the Pacers 104-102. Both had a long plane ride to Chicago,
and the Bulls are favored at home by -8. Without Derrick Rose, is this too much
to favor the home team here?
Lets go over the NBA odds on tap for tonight and decide where we should place our NBA picks.
See Red
The
Chicago Bulls don’t get blown out often. They were down by thirty points at one point in
their game against the Western Conference leading Thunder yesterday. The final score does not indicate how
bad they got beat. Their biggest loss this season was by 16 points. That has
happened three times. On the game after two of those losses, the Bulls blew out
their opponent by 20 plus points. The Bulls have also not lost back-to-back
games all season.
Even
though Derrick Rose will not play tonight, the Bulls coming out at home and
getting on top of the Rockets early is a real possibility. The Rockets haven’t
exactly been playing great basketball recently, and they have some injury
concerns of their own.
The Eastern Conference leading Bulls have played well while Derrick Rose nurses a sore groin, but they will
need him back as soon as possible to regain some of the chemistry they lost
while he has been out. With only 15 games left in the regular season for
Chicago, Rose will need at least a few weeks of play before the playoffs, if
the Bulls want to make a run at the title.
Rocket Road Woes
Houston
is a borderline playoff team this season, but even if they do squeak into one
of the last playoff spots in the West, they will have to go on the road. The
Rockets are just 9-15-1 ATS on the road this season, and are 8-17 SU away from
Houston this season.
Houston
went just 7-9 SU in the month of March, and went from being a 6th
seed at the All Star Break to now the 8th spot by only one game in
front of the Utah Jazz. Most of this can be explained by the fact that Houston
is missing arguably their two best players, Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin. Lowry
has been out almost a month with an infection, while Martin has missed the
Rockets’ last eleven games with a shoulder injury.
The Sharp Pick
The
Rockets are 2-9 SU and 2-8-1 ATS in their last eleven road games. They are also
1-4-1 ATS in their last six games playing the Bulls. However, the Bulls are
only 2-6 ATS against the Rockets in their last eight meetings from Chicago.
These two haven’t met up against one another since December of 2010, when the
Bulls beat the Rockets in a shoot out, 119-116 from Chicago. The Bulls have won
their last five games against the Rockets dating back to February 2009.
If
there’s anything I have learned about following the Bulls this season, is that
they respond very well after a loss. Coach Tom Thibodeau will have yelled and
screamed enough that he won’t even be able to speak tonight, but the Bulls will
respond. Chicago is 8-3 ATS in their eleven games following up a loss in their
last game, and I see them blowing out the Rockets at home to get back on track.
My Pick: Bulls -8