NBA Betting – Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat (-1.5, 191.5 o/u)
With four games left in their schedule, the Miami Heat (35-43, 19-19 Home) need all the wins they can get if they hope to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Tonight, the decimated squad will square off against the Chicago Bulls (46-32, 21-18 Away) at American Airlines Arena in Miami (8:00 PM Eastern).
Miami – which has been to the NBA Finals the last four seasons (albeit with LeBron James leading the way) – is currently out of the playoffs, half a game behind the Boston Celtics for the eighth and final postseason berth.
The Heat beat the Charlotte Hornets, 105-100, on Tuesday, snapping a four-game losing streak.
Goran Dragic had arguably his best game in a Miami uniform, scoring 28 points on 10/16 shooting while adding five dimes.
The Heat come into tonight’s game still reeling from injuries. Chris Bosh, Shabazz Napier, and Josh McRoberts are all out for the season, while Michael Beasley, Hassan Whiteside, Chris Andersen, Mario Chalmers, and Luol Deng are also suffering from various ailments. Beasley and Chalmers are questionable for tonight, while Andersen, Deng, and Whiteside are expected to suit up.
Chicago, meanwhile, saw star point guard Derrick Rose return last night in a 105-103 loss to the Orlando Magic. The former NBA MVP scored nine points in 19 minutes.
“I felt all right,” said Rose. “I think it was about right. It’ll get better the more I play, but I’m getting better every week. It’ll take some time, but I’ll get there.”
The Bulls saw the Central Division title slip out of reach last night as the Cavaliers upended Milwaukee. But the team still has seeding to play for, currently tied with the Raptors for third in the East.
The Bulls and Heat have faced off twice this year with each winning and covering once. The last four in the series have stayed under the total.
With the Bulls finally healthy and the Heat laboring from a multitude of injuries, take the visiting Bulls and the points.
(Photo credit:Â Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA (Derrick Rose) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
