Game Time: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, December 20th, 2021 

Venue:  United Center, Chicago, Illinois

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread: NL

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  NL

Rockets: 10-20, 13th place Western Conference

Bulls: 17-10, 2nd place Eastern Conference

The Rockets are bad… and they are bad at being bad!!  The last two important trades the Rockets made were about ditching an expensive All-Star in Russell Westbrook and James Harden… and picking up dregs of the league and plenty of future draft picks.  Their job now is to lose games and lose lots of them to maximize the picks they do have and increase their lottery odds. In fact 2022 will be their last chance to use their own 1st round pick without the risk of swap until 2028.  (They did a lot of swapping recently).  The best chance of that pick being a great #1, #2, or #3 is to be in the bottom convincingly… yet this losing team, this awful squad has allowed the New Orleans Pelicans, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Detroit Pistons, and the Orlando Magic to all be worse than them… With the Indiana Pacers threatening to get there.  They can’t win for losing. 

They are back!  The world seems to be walking on thin ice with the Covid-19 virus and the Omicron Variant.  At any moment we could lose some sports, some concerts, the stock market will dip, the news will scare us, and it could always get worse.  The good news is young healthy athletes get over Covid-19.  They become available to play in any matchup against any opponents after 2 consecutive negative tests if they are vaccinated, which 98% of the NBA is. Two interesting questions pop up… Did the Bulls catch a break by having a couple games postponed?  And did the league catch a break by finding out they can’t stop young millionaires from partying and hanging out after games… so why test so rigorously?  The Bulls definitely caught a break… They are #2 in the Eastern Conference and were on a 2-game losing streak… then they shut down and got a full 9 days of rest.  They will take the floor against the Los Angeles Lakers (who are now missing players) on Sunday… and then pick up an easy win against the dreadfully awful Houston Rockets on Monday!  Whether the games are made up later or not… The Bulls come out smelling like roses with the losing streak essentially killed by Covid!!!  

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The Rockets are 10-20 on the season, but 16-13-1 ATS.  They have logged 15 Overs and 15 Unders.  They are a dreadful 3-13 in road games.

The Bulls are 17-10 on the season and 17-10 ATS.  They have notched 12 Overs and 15 Unders.  They are 8-4 in home games.  They will have to make up 3 games at some point this season… if the league can find where in the schedule this is possible we may get some surprise Bulls games.

Houston is 20th in the NBA in scoring with 106.4 per game, 25th in rebounds with 43.8 per game, 30th in AST/TO ratio of 1.3.  The Rockets are below average shooters across the board: 21st in FG%, 20th in 3PT%, and a super awful 30th in FT% (70.2%).  The free throw percentage is the unforgivable stat…. Noone is playing defense on you when you shoot FTs.  Yes, they have a lot of youth and fringe NBA players getting minutes in Houston… but some solid coaching is needed at the foul line.

Chicago is 15th in ppg with 108.3, 27th in rebounds per game with 43.2, 13th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7.  They are shooting great:  7th in FG%, 4th in 3PT%, and 3rd in FT% (81.4%).  Making shots is the name of the game.  Points per possession means wins… The Bulls have a great winning percentage and a great shooting percentage!  It’s not rocket science.

Our prediction for Monday, December 20th is….  Bulls 118 - Rockets 104

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Houston is 14-10 ATS versus Chicago at Chicago since 1996.

Chicago is 1-1 ATS versus Houston at Chicago over the last 3 seasons.

1 of 2 of these games have gone Over.

Houston: PG Armoni Brooks (ankle) Quest ** SG Kevin Porter Jr (thigh) Out ** SG Jalen Green (hamstring) Out ** John Wall (holdout/sent away) Out indefinitely, probably done ever being an NBA starter again.

Chicago: SG Coby White (probable), SG Javonte Green (probable).... This is silly.  The ZBulls have 7-9 players that will either test back in or not based on their covid test Saturday morning before the Lakers game.  We have to assume half will and maybe half won’t.  That is because also all could or all could not and the game would be canceled… Either way if it plays it’s because the players are back.

Hou: PG Garrison Mathews, SG Eric Gordon, SF Jae’Sean Tate, PF Josh Christopher, C Christian Wood

Chi: PG Lonzo Ball, SG Zach Lavine, SF Alex Caruso, PF Troy Brown JR, C Nikola Vucevic

Houston

Points: Christian Wood 16.7

Assists: Kevin Porter Jr 5.8

Rebounds: Christian Wood 11

Steals: Kevin Porter Jr 1.3

Blocks: Christian Wood 1.0

Chicago

Points: DeMar DeRozan 26.4

Assists: Lonzo Ball 4.9

Rebounds: Nikola Vucevic 10.5

Steals: Alex Caruso 2.2

Blocks: Nikola Vucevic 1.0

Rockets: Stephen Silas.  Coach Silas is a rookie NBA head coach.  He is from a great coaching lineage and he has put in the time as an assistant and scout to have a really decent resume.  We should fervently cheer for Houston to not make him the fall guy as his first 2-3 seasons will be coaching to an empty, young, talentless roster in flux.  He should get a chance with real players.

Bulls: Billy Donovan.  Coach Donovan played the game of musical chairs better than most coaches ever.  He had a high paying job in OKC… and jumped to get the newly built, freshly painted Chicago Bulls.  Just in time.