Chicago Bulls at Oklahoma City Thunder
Wednesday, 10/27/10, 8:00 PM EST, TV: ESPN
Opening Point Spread: Oklahoma City -6.5
Current Betting Line: Oklahoma City -6
Opening Total: 194
Current Total: 195
Chicago opens up the 2010-11 season on the road and will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in a contest that features the No. 8 seeds from each conference in last year’s playoffs. The Bulls are looking to improve upon the 41-41 mark that it posted during the 2009-10 campaign and has many new faces aboard. “It’s exciting that the new players are good players,” point guard Derek Rose commented.” They’re not selfish. They can help my game. They’re older than I am, so they know the NBA game better than me.” The biggest acquisition of the offseason came in the form of former Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer, who was injured on October 2 at his home, with the team expecting his cast to be removed around November 2. The team finished out last season on a 9-2 ATS run on the road. Currently Oklahoma City is favored by 6 points on the current NBA point spreads.
The Bulls will go as far as Rose takes them this year and he’s made headlines due to his comments of wanting to be known as the best player in the league. He won a gold medal with Team USA at the FIBA World Championships and now has his mindset on becoming a superstar that can lead a team deep in the playoffs. Outside of Boozer, Chicago added much needed depth with the additions of Keith Bogans, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver and C.J. Watson. The franchise will also be led by first-year head coach Tom Thibodeau after he spent 20 years as a well-respected NBA assistant and recently given credit to designing Boston’s highly-regarded defense of the past three years.
Oklahoma City concluded their exhibition schedule with a 4-3 record and look to take another step forward from its 50-32 overall record last season. “I think we have the confidence but we still know that last year is over with,” said Durant. “We know that we had a good year, we made it to the playoffs.” The Thunder franchise finished with an above .500 record in the preseason for the first time since 2003. Oklahoma City benefited from an incredibly healthy season for its players last year, with four starting all 82 games for the Thunder. It led to the squad increasing its win total from 23 and securing the club’s first playoff appearance since 2004-05. The team finished the season 4-1 ATS at home.
The Thunder are led by Durant and he’s a trendy pick to be named the league’s Most Valuable Player for this season, as he averaged 30.1 points to win the scoring title last year. He also won MVP honors in the world championships over the summer, leading the United States to a gold medal. Oklahoma City emergence in the league can also be directly attributed to the rise of guard Russell Westbrook, who averaged 16.1 points, 8.0 assists and 4.9 rebounds in 34.3 minutes per game. He played alongside Durant and Rose this summer on the gold-medal team. The Thunder defeated 29 of the 30 teams in the NBA last season.
Bettors are likely to play the Bulls in this contest due to the underdog being 4-0 ATS in the last four meetings, but the Thunder was 5-2 ATS in their last seven games as a home favorite of 5 to 10.5 points. Maddux Sports is still looking at this game at the time of publish but could possibly release a play on it. We started out the season with a 3-0 mark last night and will continue to build profit along the way. View the NBA betting picks page to get signed up for todays winning plays.
