Today on the NBA, we will see the Orlando Magic travel to take on the Chicago Bulls in an exciting contest. The game is scheduled for an 8:00 pm start time and it will be televised live on FS Florida (Orlando) and CSN-Chicago (Chicago). Currently the odds for the game have the Bulls favored by 9,5 points, while the totals line is set at 187 points. Opening lines had the Bulls favored by 9,5 points, while the totals line was set at 186 points.
Game Analysis: Chicago is coming from a home loss against New Orleans, where they competed hard by grabbing 15 offensive rebounds, while the Hornets grabbed just 9! The Bulls also had 11 steals, had fewer turnovers than the Hornets with a season low of 12 turnovers, they scored more points in the paint, second chance points and fast break points. However, they had a huge problem that they can't have if they want to win games: after shooting 63.8% FG against Cleveland, the Bulls shot just 32% FG in the game against New Orleans, while shooting just 26% FG in the 2nd half! Rip Hamilton shot 2-10 FG, Kirk Hinrich 1-8 FG, Luol Deng 6-15 FG, Carlos Boozer 1-8 FG and Joakim Noah 4-12 FG! That's a combined of 14-53 (26%) FG!
Tonight, I expect a bounce back from the Bulls offense, as Orlando offers them a much more favorable matchup. The Bulls will have a huge edge down low, as Orlando has been playing a lot of small ball. With their good ball movement and size down low, I expect Chicago to score a lot of easy points today. There's also the fact that Chicago is running more this season than they were last season, as coach Thibodeau realized that the team without Derrick Rose needs to create more easy shots to score and with this, the pace in the first three games of the Bulls this season were always above 90, while they had just two runs of +3 games with a pace higher than 90 last season! Thanks to this quicker pace, Chicago is also score a lot of fast break points, having scored 14, 15 and 21 points in their first three games of the season.
Orlando is 2-0 right now and after I watched them playing great basketball against Denver on their season debut, I couldn't resist taking them against Phoenix in the following game and in fact, they dropped 40 points on the Suns in the third quarter, despite playing without Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson, something that for a roster with little talent should be dramatic. They indeed struggled during the first half, where their defense had no answer for Luis Scola, who dominated the paint on offense, something that should also happen today with Carlos Boozer. However, the second half was a completely different story. Big Baby was much more efficient from both ends of the floor, E'Twaun Moore and Arron Afflalo were great from the three-point range. Orlando keeps playing on a fast tempo, with a small ball, great ball movement and a very good ball sharing. They had a good matchup against Phoenix, but the truth is that they are indeed showing an excellent offensive dynamic on this early season.
This should be a fast paced game, where Orlando will obviously have more problems on offense than they had against the Suns. However, they are playing with great confidence, so I believe they should at least get some offensive production, even though they will be facing one of the best defenses on the league tonight. Chicago is also trying to set up a decent pace to their games and with Orlando sharing the same philosophy, I expect this game to become a fast paced game, with both teams having some decent games on offense. The current line of just 187 points would be a sharp line last season, with Chicago playing without Derrick Rose and Orlando still playing on half court with Dwight Howard on the frontcourt, but this season, on different circumstances, I expect this game to be nothing similar to the previous seasons' games between these two teams. Therefore, I'll be taking the Over in here.
Free Pick: Take Over 187 in here (Single Dime Play)