NBA Betting – Chicago Bulls at New Orleans Pelicans
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
Chicago Bulls (-1.5, 196 o/u) at New Orleans PelicansÂ
The Chicago Bulls (30-20), losers of three straight, will try to put an end to their current skid tonight when they face the New Orleans Pelicans (27-23) at the Smoothie King Center (7:00 p.m. Eastern).
After finishing last season with a top-three defense (in terms of points against per game), the Bulls have been incredibly inconsistent at that end of the floor this year. Currently, the team is just 18th in the league, surrendering 99.9 PPG. They have allowed 100 or more points in 24 times this season, after opponents hit the century mark just 16 times last year.
The Bulls’ defensive struggles continued on Wednesday, when they were downed 101-90 by the Houston Rockets.
“We’re playing hard in spurts, but we just can’t do it for 48 minutes right now. We’ve got to figure it out, or it’s going to be a long year,” said center – and reigning Defensive Player of the Year – Joakim Noah after the loss.
The young Pelicans, on the other hand, look like they are starting to grow and mature as a team. New Orleans is 7-3 over its last ten, and power forward Anthony Davis is playing MVP-caliber basketball.
The 22-year-old is averaging 24.5 points (fifth in the NBA), 10.4 rebounds (tenth), and 2.8 blocks per game (first). He also has a Player Efficiency Rating of 32.1, which would be the highest ever recorded in a season (if he can maintain it).
New Orleans split a home-and-home series with the Oklahoma City Thunder in its last two games, taking last night’s game in Oklahoma, 116-113. Davis continued his immaculate season, scoring 41 points including a three-pointer at the buzzer for the win.
Looking at the trends, the Bulls are 7-3 in their last ten against New Orleans. But with Davis on the floor and the Bulls’ inconsistency on defense, take New Orleans to win SU tonight.
(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.
