NBA Betting – Fading Suns Head to Chi-Town

Phoenix Suns at Chicago Bulls (-6, 203 o/u)

It’s been a tough stretch of the season for the Phoenix Suns (8-13, 3-8 Away), who are currently riding a four-game losing streak. They’ll be hard-pressed to staunch the setbacks tonight, facing the Chicago Bulls (11-6, 7-2 Home) at the United Center (8:00 PM Eastern).

The Suns’ 95-93 setback to Memphis last night came in heartbreaking fashion as Jeff Green converted a last-second, inbounds alley-oop for the win.

Reserve swingman PJ Tucker lamented the team’s poor defensive execution. “There’s no way that game doesn’t go into overtime, at least,” Tucker said to the Associated Press. “But the fate of the Suns right now is crazy.”

The recent skid has trade rumors swirling in the desert. Word is that the also-struggling Houston Rockets are interested in power forward Markieff Morris (12.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG), who made multiple trade demands this offseason. But with fellow big-man Tyson Chandler on the shelf with a hamstring injury, dealing Morris would leave Phoenix awfully thin up front.

The Bulls also come into tonight on the heels of a tough loss, falling 102-96 at home to the Hornets. Chicago had a four-point lead heading into the fourth quarter but went just 2 for 10 in the final five minutes.

Head coach Fred Hoiberg chalked up the drought to bad luck.

“We missed some really, really good looks,” Hoiberg said to the AP. “Even Doug [McDermott] and Jimmy [Butler] there at the end, they had great looks that hit every part of the rim and bounced out.”

The Bulls already own a win over the Suns this season, prevailing 103-97 in Phoenix back in mid-November, despite the Suns getting 20-plus point efforts from Tucker, Brandon Knight, and Eric Bledsoe. Butler had his stroke going in that one, pouring in a game-high 32 points on 11 of 23 shooting from the field, while Joakim Noah dominated the glass, hauling in 11 rebounds.

Despite sporting a solid straight-up record, the Bulls have been a terrible bet this season, going 6-11 ATS, including 2-7 at home. But the Suns haven’t been any better of late, with 2-5 ATS mark in their last seven road games and a 2-7 ATS record in their last nine, overall. With the Suns reeling, taking the Bulls and laying the points looks like better value tonight.

Pick: Bulls (-6).

(Photo credit: 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.)