Chicago Bulls at San Antonio Spurs
Time: 7 PM CT (TNT)
Spread: SAS -14.5
Total: 201.5
Betting odds c/o 5dimes
The Chicago Bulls may be pulling themselves out of the slumber that caused them to fall to the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference. Climbing all the way out of the hole back to a pole position in the playoffs may prove tough though.
The Bulls are 11-19 on the road this season where they will collide with the San Antonio Spurs in a matchup to be aired on TNT. NBA oddsmakers favor the home Spurs by 14.5 points in the game while setting the over/under at 201.5.
Click HERE to see live NBA odds from major bookmakers!
Chicago most recently took advantage of two struggling teams to secure victory, knocking off the Houston Rockets and Milwaukee Bucks. The most recent was the 100-90 win over Milwaukee on Tuesday (Mar 8) night. Jimmy Butler sat again with knee soreness, and his absence had been largely responsible for Chicago’s inability to put points on the board.
But against the Bucks the Bulls put their entire starting lineup in double figures, paced by Derrick Rose’s 22 points. Rose may finally be coming around to his old self. In the Bulls’ last seven games, the one-time MVP has averaged 21.4 points and 5.6 assists per game while shooting an outstanding 55.1 percent from the field.
Rose is seeing 32 minutes per game this season and now averaging 16.6 points per game on the season but what has been most encouraging is that he is now knocking down shots he had been missing all season. The Bulls still miss Butler. Butler is posting 22.4 points per game this season while also dishing out 4.3 assists per game. His playmaking and scoring ability is what keeps Chicago potent enough to contend with teams that sport better offenses.
Pau Gasol is turning in another strong season, but this may be his last in Chicago. The Spaniard is averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds per game while posting the highest PER of any Bulls player (22.3). The Bulls have a strong collection of talent, but how does head coach Fred Holberg make it anything more than a low seed in the playoffs?
Can the Bulls get back to the standard of excellence the team was held up to during the Tom Thibodeau era? It seems Bulls fans are signing “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone,” because Holberg has not been tough enough on the players and only in the past two games against inferior opponents has Chicago looked like a formidable postseason team.
The Spurs come into this game relatively on fire. San Antonio has won 10 of its past 11 games and is still just 3.5 games behind the potentially record-setting Golden State Warriors. The Spurs are a perfect 30-0 at home this season and have the league’s greatest point differential of plus-12.4. San Antonio in other words is having a phenomenal season while pretty much everyone just discusses Steph Curry and the Warriors.
The Spurs play a more “boring” brand of basketball, but hitting 35-foot threes to win a title is not any better than the six or seven pass possessions the Spurs have to create open looks. Basketball purists find a beautiful cadence in that type of offense too, and maybe it is not all about launching mass threes. If the Spurs defeat the Warriors in the postseason this year, it will not be with flash, and that should be fine.
San Antonio is coming off a 116-91 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. LaMarcus Aldridge had a nearly flawless offensive showing, hitting 11 of 13 from the field and 7 of 8 from the line en route to 29 points. The Spurs shot 55.3 percent from the field and assisted 28 of its 47 field goals. The game was picturesque Spurs basketball, and San Antonio seems to be clicking in all the right ways to win a title. Bettors care not of popularity aspects, so might not the Spurs be a value bet when the postseason does finally unravel? It is difficult to count the prospect out.
