NBA: Phoenix Suns vs. Chicago Bulls Preview, Odds, Prediction

Two top contenders for taking the No.1 seed in respective conferences, the Phoenix Suns and the Chicago Bulls, square off tonight at United Center. The Suns are on tour through the East, which will close in Philly on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the Bulls played against the 76ers less than 24 hours ago and lost. Because of that, Billy Donovan’s unit is no longer atop the Eastern Conference. A spectacular clash awaits us, that is certain, with lots of attractive plays and high-scoring results.

Prediction

Phoenix Suns (42-10, -250) rebounded fast following a failure in Georgia against the Atlanta Hawks. That defeat snapped their 11-game winning streak, but that didn’t disturb Monty Williams’ unit, which responded well by defeating the Washington Wizards, 95-80.

Everything was pretty much solved following the opening half when Phoenix went away to a 59-22 lead at halftime. Overall, this was an inefficient game, with the Suns shooting only 40.4% from the field, and the Wizards, 35.3%. The guests had eight threes scored, and the Wizards only five.

The difference-maker was Deandre Ayton, with 20 points and 16 boards, in just 24 minutes on the floor. Chris Paul added 14 and nine assists, while Devin Booker ended the event with 11 points, seven boards, and five assists. He and Paul shot 2-for-11 from downtown.

Chicago Bulls (33-20, +190) generally posted mixed results in the last two weeks. In the previous three games, they had two losses and a win, with the note that the latest clash was against the Philadelphia 76ers at home, and that it ended with the Bulls’ defeat, 119-108.

A big problem for Billy Donovan was that he didn’t have a proper point guard available, because both Lonzo Ball and Coby White were out due to injuries. On top of that, LaVine was out as well, and it appears that the Bulls were bound to lose this one. DeMar DeRozan tried to do everything on his own, scoring 45 points and once again proving that he is among the top 10 players in the NBA, but unfortunately for the hosts, that wasn’t enough.

Apart from scoring, DeRozan was excellent in all aspects of the game, having nine boards, seven assists, and one steal. Nikola Vucevic had 23 buckets, seven boards, and five assists, while Javonte Green added 17 buckets. These three guys were the only ones with a double-digit number of points for the Bulls.

Head to Head Games

This is the first meeting of this campaign between these two sides. During the previous campaign, we saw them facing twice, and the Suns had more success on both occasions. The first event in Illinois ended 106-97 for the guests, while the other in Arizona saw the Suns winning 121-116.

Prediction

Ball is out, LaVine is questionable, the same as White, but even with one of these three in the lineup, our final pick would still be the Suns to win. Simply, the East champions are probably the best team in the league right now. Meanwhile, the Bulls will have a tough time organizing the offense, and that will, no doubt, have certain implications on the final result. In this case, negative ones.

Pick: Suns win

Here are the previews for the games:

• Raptors vs. Hornets
• Heat vs. Wizards