Game Time: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, January 3rd, 2022 

Venue:  United Center, Chicago, Illinois

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread: NL

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  NL

Caesars: Spread: NL

Magic: 7-29, 14th place Eastern Conference

Bulls: 24-10, 1st place Eastern Conference

The Orlando Magic are a five alarm dumpster fire, but they aren’t surprised.  Last season they traded away their 3 best players C Nikola Vucevic, SG Evan Fournier, and SF Aaron Gordon for draft assets and young players… the result is a roster loaded with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year players who are all mostly recent lottery picks… In some cases they have three recent lottery players vying for the same starting position.  The result is a young team with zero on floor leadership… prone to missing shots and committing turnovers and being miles out of position on defense.  The upside to all this chaos is they weren’t a good team before the trades… also they will have loads of picks and young players to trade once they sort out what guys they want to keep and make permanent starters.  The risk they run is breaking the spirit and instilling bad habits (losing is a bad habit) of whatever young player on the roster has the chance to be special.  They are so deep at point guard for instance that they have Markeel Fultz (former #1 overall pick), Cole Anthony (#15 pick), and RJ Hampton (#24 pick, but went pro from high school and came with hype)... that they have rookie Gonzaga product Jalen Suggs playing at shooting guard… regardless that his skill set implies he may be the best point guard of the bunch.  Orlando is on a four-game losing streak and are losers of 8 of their last ten games.  The two wins they had during their last ten games were against the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets back to back… and it just so happened that was Dec 18 and 22nd… smack dab in the middle of the height of the Covid protocols decimating rosters… So the Orlando Magic are perfectly built for beating any team that loses 7-8 guys to a worldwide pandemic.  Other than that, they aren’t a safe betting opportunity as they are 15-21 ATS… they routinely lose ATS when they are spotted double digit points.  Their last two losses to Milwaukee Bucks were +14 and lost ATS and +15 and lost ATS.

After a decade of struggle… after shuffling and reshuffling the roster… draft after draft… trade after trade… the Chicago Bulls are finally in 1st place in the Eastern Conference.  It’s a real first place too!  The Bulls have been terrible over the last decade of NBA action.  The troubles began in 2012 when the youngest MVP in league history Derrick Rose suffered an ACL tear that required surgery… then after sitting out a year for rehab he tore his right meniscus in his first ten games back, he was never the same player again (though he still plays).  The Bulls never recovered… until now.  What the Bulls did in  the interim was play terrible basketball with bad basketball rosters.  The terribleness led to lottery pick after lottery pick after lottery pick… a few trades added picks… and then with full shelves and loads of young players the Bulls did what Danny Ainge should have done with the Boston Celtics…. They used the assets for good players!  Over the last season and a half the Bulls have added PG Lonzo Ball in trade, C Nikola Vucevic in trade, SF Demar DeRozan in trade, SG Alex Caruso in free agency, SF/PF Patrick Williams in the draft… and they added all those guys to the two guards they wanted to keep… SG/PG Coby White and the team’s previous only star SG/PG Zach LaVine.  The result is a deeply talented team that keeps on winning.  Second year PF Patrick Williams is out with a wrist injury that will cause him to miss most if not all of this season and the team still keeps winning.  The Bulls are on a 7 game winning streak that has helped them jump from 2nd to 1st place leaping the Brooklyn Nets in the process.  Their last loss was December 11th against the Miami Heat.  They also missed two games that will have to be made up at a later date when the team was overwhelmed with Covid and forced to postpone 2 games.

Al McMordie's 158-111 his last 269 Over/Under releases (including a nice winner yesterday on his NCAA Football Total of the Week on Iowa/Kentucky Under). If you enjoyed that BIG $$$$-MAKER, then don't miss Big Al's NBA Total of the Week on this Sunday. Go get it! 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!

The Magic are 7-29 on the season, but 15-21 ATS.  They have logged 18 Overs and 18 Unders… they are 5-16 in road games which sadly is much better than they are in home games.

The Bulls are 24-10 on the season, but 21-13 ATS.  They have notched 17 Overs, 17 Unders.  They are 12-4 in home games.

The Magic are 28th in points with 101.7 per game, 22nd in rebounds with 43.8 per game, and 28th in AST/TO ratio with 1.5.  Lousy shooting has led to 28th in FG% and 27th in 3PT%.  They also simply can’t buckle down on defense where they are ranked 25th in the league while giving up 111.5 ppg to opponents. C Mo Bamba is on the roster essentially because of his defense and rebounding… With numbers like these Mo should be the next guy gone… you should sacrifice some offense for defense, but if you aren’t getting defense then send him packing.

Our prediction for Monday, January 3rd is…. Bulls 118 - Magic 96

The Bulls will drop the Magic without any hiccups.  The line is not out yet, but expect a double digit line (-12 to -15) in favor of the Bulls.  This is the NBA so you should avoid betting on lines that big normally… The final minutes of a blowout win are unpredictable because the leading team essentially stops playing and can give up 6 points in a hurry.  Still I would take the Bulls in this game expecting a blow-out.

Don't miss our champion handicappers' Free NBA Picks and Premium Selections every day here at Bigal.com. Just click on Shop Picks for our Best Bets, or click on Shop Subscriptions to

join for a week or a month. And if you enjoyed this Magic/Bulls Preview, be sure to bookmark Bigal.com for our daily Game Previews and Predictions.  Get help with all your college football picks, National Football league, NCAA brackets, or any prop bets on your season schedule. 

The Bulls are 4-2 ATS over their last 6 games.

The Bulls won their last matchup with Orlando 123-88 (won by 35 points)

The Magic are 3-3 ATS over their last 6 games.

The Magic have 4 Overs and 6 Unders in their last ten games.

Magic: C Mo Bamba (ankle) Out ** PG Markell Fultz (knee) Out ** PG Cole Anthony (ankle) Out ** SG Jalen Suggs (thumb) Out ** PF Chuma Okeke (covid) Out

Bulls: PG Lonzo Ball (covid) Out, SG Alex Caruso (foot) Out ** SF Patrick Williams (wrist) Out

Magic: SF Franz Wagner, PF Wendell Carter Jr, C Freddie Gillespie, PG Tim Frazier, SG Gary Harris

Bulls: PF Derrick Jones Jr, SF DeMar DeRozan, C Nikola Vucevic, SG Coby White, PG Zach LaVine

Magic

Points: Cole Anthony 20

Assists: Cole Anthony 5.8

Rebounds: Wendell Carter Jr 10.1

Steals: Chuma Okeke 1.2

Blocks: Mo Bamba 2.2

Bulls

Points: DeMar DeRozan 26.8

Assists: Lonzo Ball 5.0

Rebounds: Nikola Vucevic 11.4

Steals: Alex Caruso 2.0

Blocks: Nikola Vucevic 1.1