NBA: Chicago Bulls vs. Brooklyn Nets Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Brooklyn Nets host the Chicago Bulls this Tuesday night. Both teams have negative records, which isn’t what their fans hoped for. The Nets are one of the title contenders, though, the way they play and with everything going on in Brooklyn, seeing them reach the ring at the end of the year would be a massive surprise. The Bulls are one of the teams who are after the playoffs. They have a solid unit filled in all the positions, though, at the moment, injuries present a problem for Billy Donovan’s crew.

Preview

Chicago Bulls (3-4, +110) lost the last two games. San Antonio beat them at home, 129-124, a few days ago, in a clash that saw DeMar DeRozan becoming the 50th player to score 20,000 points in the NBA. Two nights ago, Chicago was defeated at home by the 76ers, 114-109.

DeRozan kept on going at his pace in that one, scoring 24 points, a little bit under his average, which is 25.9. He was 7-for-12 from the field in 34 minutes. Nikola Vucevic played a very good game against Joel Embiid with 23 points and 19 boards, hitting five threes in nine attempts.

Zach LaVine added 20 points, and these three guys were the only ones with double-digits in the scoring column in Chicago. The problem for the guests here are injuries because LaVine might skip this one, as well as Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White, while Andre Drummond is 100% out.

Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets (2-5, -130) don’t have too many injured players, but their chemistry is ruined. The Nets have two players in the top ten scorers, but on the other side, neither of them plays defense, Kyrie especially.

The Nets were better than the Pacers in last night’s game at the Barclays, 116-109. They had a 22-point lead during the second period and a 19-point gap in the third, yet the Pacers came back, tying the score in the final sequence. Once again, we see the Nets dropping in the latter stages of the clash.

Kevin Durant scored 36 buckets, with nine boards and seven assists, while Kyrie had 28 points, six boards, and dimes with four steals. The refreshment among the Nets was the big fella, Nic Claxton, who had 19 points and nine rebounds, but also four blocks, protecting the rim pretty well. He added four assists too, and he slowly becomes one of the better players in his position in the conference.

Head to Head

The Bulls won two games last year, and the Nets had one triumph. The first meeting at the United Center saw the hosts winning, 118-95, after that, the Nets lost at home, 111-017, and eventually, they would beat the Bulls on the road, 138-112.

Prediction

We are siding with the Nets in this one because we believe that the hosts have a deeper roster taking into consideration all the Bulls’ problems with injured players and those who are 50-50 to play tonight. The spread on the hosts is between -1.5 and -2 points, and we will take that as well, because the Nets broke the cold streak last night, creating a small momentum that should boost their morale a little bit.

Pick: Nets -1.5