Chicago Bulls v Philadelphia 76ers – NBA
In tonight’s Eastern Conference match-up, we will see Philadelphia 76ers visiting Chicago Bulls at United Center, Chicago.
Chicago Bulls are coming into this match after winning their last match against Detroit Pistons, which was their 2nd consecutive win at home stadium. Although, they should not be extremely happy with their form, as they are currently holding a 3-7 record in the past 10 games and 2-3 in the past 5. Overall, Bulls are sitting at 9th position in the East with a record of 34-38. Now let’s take a look at their recent match against Detroit Pistons. Chicago Bulls were dominating the match since the start. 1st quarter ended with a 9 point lead for Bulls (32:23), which was reduced to 6 points in the upcoming quarter(27:30). So teams went into the locker rooms with scoreboard showing (59:53). With only 6 points separating the teams, the match was still open, but not for long. Bulls started the second half strong and outscored Pistons by 12 points, thus going into last 12 minutes with a huge lead of 18 points. At this point, there was little to none hope for Pistons to come back and, well.. they didn’t. Bulls even further extended their lead to 22 points with a good 4th quarter (26:22). The match ended with a score (117:95). Top scorers of the match: Mirtovic (28pts), Lauvergne (17pts) and Butler (16pts).
Now let’s touch tonight’s visiting team and arguably the underdogs in the upcoming match, Philadelphia 76ers. Philadelphia 76ers are coming into this match with two consecutive defeats behind them. They lost to Orlando Magic (112:109)(OT) and Oklahoma City Thunder (112:97). It’s kind of surprising change of pace for 76ers, who were playing well prior to those 2 defeats, winning against Boston Celtics (105:99) and Dallas Mavericks (116:74). They even put up a great fight against GSW (106:104). But it is what it is and now they will hope to get back on track with another tough match ahead of them. Looking at their recent match against Oklahoma City Thunder, we saw Philadelphia 76ers being dominated throughout most of the match. 76ers were outscored in every quarter of the match, with an exception of 4th quarter, which ended with a tie (27:27). 1st quarter ended with a 7 point lead for Thunder (29:22), which was extended to 13 by the end of 2nd quarter (34:28). 3rd quarter was once again in Thunder’s favour (32:20), thus getting a 25 point lead prior to last 12 minutes. There is no denying that 76ers were not considered a huge favourite against Thunder, but they could play better, as losing by 25 points is not justifiable. Top scorers of the match: Kanter (24pts), Stauskas (20pts) and Oladipo (18pts).
Verdict & Prediction
Philadelphia is coming into this match as a underdog, which is understandable, as they did not show anything promising in the past few games. But in my eyes, bookmakers are offering too high odds on 76ers. Yes, Bulls will be playing at home and there is no denying that they won last 2 home games. But we must keep in mind that 76ers, despite playing somewhat poorly in last 2 games did show us that they can play extremely well. In addition, Bulls will be missing Lopez, who was suspended and Felicio, who is still struggling with back injury and of course Wade, who will be out for the rest of the season due to fractured elbow. In my eyes Philadelphia is capable of surprising us tonight with another great match.
Prediction: Philadelphia 76ers +8.00 points (or Philly to win the match at the odds of 3.64 at Pinnacle)
Odds: 1.80 Pinnacle
Another NBA betting preview for tonight: Orlando Magic v Detroit Pistons – NBA
