NBA: Chicago Bulls vs. Indiana Pacers Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers close their 2021 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The two big divisional rivals face one another in an interesting matchup that should bring a lot of points. These two sides don’t care about the defense too much and focus on attacking instead. The Bulls have DeRozan and LaVine, two exquisite attackers, while on the other end, the Pacers act more as a team, but their focal figure is Domantas Sabonis, one of the best frontcourt players in the league.

Preview

Chicago Bulls (22-10, -145) have five wins in a row, and they are looking red-hot right now. In those five victories, the Bulls have scored 130+ points three times. Their two latest meetings were with the Atlanta Hawks, and in both Billy Donovan’s crew was pretty confident. The contest in Georgia ended 130-118, and the second one at the United Center 131-117.

The Bulls had a very high shooting percentage in the second event, 61.9%. They also had 38 assists, and scored more points in the paint, 64. Chicago would dominate the event right from the start until the end, and there was no way for the Hawks to escape their grip.

LaVine had 25 points, DeRozan 20, while Nikola Vucevic scored 16 with 20 boards, having another of his monstrous double-doubles. Coby White added 17 with 12 assists, showing that his form is going up constantly. And once these four guys play well, it is not odd at all to see the Bulls surpassing the 130-point limit.

Indiana Pacers (14-21, +145) have lost three in the past four events, beating only the Houston Rockets at home. On the other side, they were defeated by the Heat and the Bulls on the road, and the Charlotte Hornets at home in their most recent game, 116-108.

The Pacers will have certain trouble regarding the roster, because their top scorer, Malcolm Brogdon, won’t play, as well as excellent rookie Chris Duarte. TJ McConnel, TJ Warren, and Jeremy Lamb are out too.

Against the Hornets, Indiana allowed 51.8% of FG to the guests, which was the main reason for losing this event. They had trouble defending the paint, as, in that aspect of the game, Charlotte completely outplayed the Pacers, 54-32. Sabonis had 15 points, 18 boards, and seven assists, while Caris LeVert scored 27 with seven boards and six assists. Also, we need to add that the Pacers committed 18 turnovers.

Head to Head Games

These teams already met twice, both times in Chicago. The first match was on November 22, when Pacers won, 109-77. The second was a few days ago, on December 26 and the Bulls were better this time, posting a 113-105 victory.

Prediction

The Bulls are in much better shape, and to be honest, we aren’t sure why the bookmakers put only a -4-point spread on their victory. In our opinion, this gap needed to be much higher. Indiana is playing without Brogdon and a couple of other solid players, while Bulls lack only Lonzo Ball, but even he has a replacement – Coby White – who is playing superbly. Therefore, we can’t suggest anything else here but betting on the Bulls to win and cover the spread and the odds on that are -110.

Pick: Bulls -4 -110