Game Time: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, November 22nd, 2021 

Venue: United Center, Chicago, Illinois

Where to Watch: NBA League Pass, local cable 

DraftKings:  Spread:  Heat -1; Over/Under 213

BetMGM:  Spread:  Heat -1.5; Over/Under 211.5

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Heat -1.5; Over/Under 212

Heat: 12-7, 2nd place Eastern Conference

Bulls:12-7, 3rd place Eastern Conference

If you have only been paying attention to NBA basketball through ESPN highlights because you are the type of fan that doesn’t get into it until after the Christmas Day games… Shame on you.  This season there is an honest to goodness changing of the guard… especially in the Eastern Conference.  The Bulls are good and they have been good, that is no surprise.  The guard change is that the perennial cellar-dwellers, the Chicago Bulls, are actually good this year.  Going into game 20 on the NBA schedule for most teams across the league usually doesn’t decide the playoffs. It does tell us who is most likely, barring injury, to blaze through the NBA season and get to the real last games.  The Bulls have become that with a monster 2021 offseason.  They are also fun to watch now. 

The Bulls host the Heat in a regular season matchup of NBA play that will determine which of them belongs in 2nd place.

 

Al McMordie's on a red-hot 175-119 run, and is featuring this NBA Triple Pack on Saturday, including one play backed by a 36-7 ATS angle, and another out of a 30-8 ATS situation. Get your broom ready for a 3-0 SWEEP! Hop on board right now.  Get Big Al’s picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

Miami is 12-7 on the season and 12-7 ATS.  They have logged 11 Overs and 8 Unders.  They are .500 in road games at 6-6.   The Heat opened the season by reeling off 7 straight wins beating the Milwaukee Bucks, the Orlando Magic, the Charlotte Hornets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Indiana Pacers, and Luka Doncic among others.  Since then it has been 5-7.

Chicago is 12-7 on the season and 12-7 ATS.  They have notched 8 Overs and 11 Unders.  They are 6-3 at home.  The fans at the United Center are considerably louder than in years past. The Bulls opened the season by reeling off 4 wins against the Detroit Pistons (twice), Toronto Raptors, and the New Orleans Pelicans.  They have gone 8-7 since.  The Bulls have been beat by the Philadelphia 76ers twice and the New York Knicks and the Golden State Warriors (out in the Western Conference)... this is a trend that they have to break.  If they are going to stay a winning team they will have to beat other strong, winning teams… The Heat is the test.

Miami is 12th in pts per game with 108.8, 7th in rebounds with 46.7, and 16th in AST/TO ratio with a 1.6. The Heat are 8th in FG%, 14th in 3PT%, and 6th in FT%

Chicago is 16th in points per game with 107.4, 28th in rebounds with 43.1, and 11th in AST/TO ratio.  The Bulls would like to see higher rebound totals, but they shoot a high percentage in everything.  They are 10th in FG%, 7th in 3PT%, and 1st in FT%.... and Lonzo Ball is on the team and shooting the 3 with much better accuracy than in years past.

Our prediction for Saturday, November 27th is…. Bulls 118 - Heat 110

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Miami is 3-2 ATS versus Chicago over the last 3 seasons.

Miami is 2-0 ATS versus Chicago at Chicago over the last 3 seasons.

Since 1996 34 of 57 games in this series have gone Under the Point Total.

Miami:  SG Victor Oladipo (quad) Out , PF Markieff Morris (Neck) Out

Chicago: PF Patrick Williams (wrist) Out til late April

Bulls: PG Lonzo Ball, SG Zach Lavine, SF Javonte Green, PF DeMar DeRozan, C Nikola Vucevic

Heat: PG Kyle Lowry, SG Duncan Robinson, SF Jimmy Butler, PF P.J. Tucker, C Bam Adebayo

Heat

Points: Jimmy Butler 23.9

Rebounds: Bam Adebayo 10.2

Assists: Kyle Lowry 7.5

Steals: Jimmy Butler 1.9

Blocks: Caleb Martin 0.5

Bulls

Points: Zach LaVine 26.1

Rebounds: Zach LaVine 5.3

Assists: Lonzo Ball 4.5

Steals: Alex Caruso 2.3

Blocks: Derrick Jones 0.9

Coach 

Heat: Erik Spoelstra.  Coach Spoelstra is the rock of the Miami Heat.  The roster changes, the stars change, the years fly by… and the one guy holding it all together is Coach Spoelstra.  He has NBA titles, he has deep playoff runs and he has had some bad seasons.  

Bulls: Billy Donovan.  Coach Donovan has college championship wins.  He spent several years trying to get a winning culture off the ground with Russell Westbrook as his star in OKC.  He jumped ship for the Bulls at exactly the right time.