Portland Trail Blazers vs. Chicago Bulls: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/4/2023

by Chuck Sommers

Saturday, Feb 04, 2023
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Venue: United Center, Chicago, IL
Where to watch: NBCSCH, ROOT-SP+

Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks


DraftKings: Bulls -4.5
FanDuel: Bulls -5
BetMGM: Bulls -4.5
Caesars: Bulls -4.5

Season record
Blazers: 26-26
Bulls: 24-27

The All-Stars have been announced, the trade deadline is days away, and the NBA season has never seen so much parity and intrigue than it has at this moment. All you need to do is look at the Western Conference and laugh with a hearty burst at how ridiculous this season has been. You know what's not ridiculous? Our champion handicappers continuing to kill it on the NBA level over the last 30 days. All you need to do is take one look at what they're doing and see that this is the place to be as we purge through the second half of the season. Doc's Sports has been tremendous over the last month with a 17-8-0 run and net profit of $8,100. Team Del Genio has also been very good at an 11-6-1 run that has made for some very exciting runs near to the top. Basketball is taking full swing with football about to be set on the back burner, and you want to be locked in at bigal.com. Take advantage of our Best Bets page at bigal.com to see what our champion handicappers bring to the table. Make sure you're following winners at bigal.com and get that same kind of money in your pocket.

Blazers - Bulls preview, prediction and analysis


Recent form
Blazers: won 124-116 at Wizards
Bulls: won 114-98 vs. Hornets

Just when I think that they are eventually going to go away because they tend to find reasons at this time of year to completely give up, the Portland Trail Blazers seemingly find a way to pull me back in and usually it is by default of Damian Lillard that this happens.
 
Portland will be heading to Chicago on Saturday to take on the Chicago Bulls, who are coming off a very convincing victory over the Charlotte Hornets the other day. And while I can understand the homecourt advantage side of things for Chicago, Portland just finds ways to win and I don't know how comforting that is considering they really shouldn't be in this position but they still find a way.
 
There likely has not been a hotter scorer in the NBA right now than the man wearing #0 for the Blazers. Lillard finished with 42 points in the 122 dash 112V over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. Never mind the fact that he's already gone for 60 at one point, that he's gone for 50 a couple of times, against one of the best teams in the Western Conference Lillard did that. His entire stat line was 42 points on 11 of 22 shooting, 5 of 13 from 3 point range, 15 of 16 from the free throw line, 10 assists and eight rebounds. It's consistency right now that's showing why he is one of the best players in the world and this stretch of last 10 or so games has shown that.
 
“I think we've had a couple of quality wins,” Lillard said after outdueling Memphis star Ja Morant on his homecourt. “This was the best team we've come up with a win against, especially as of late.”
 
It's tough to fathom why this team would be an underdog considering how scorching red hot their superstar is, but I can sort of understand it from the standpoint that Portland going on the road after having as much success as they've had at home really should say something here. But the fact that Portland has had two days off in between after getting one of their more signature wins of the season in Memphis I would say has much more merit to it than we would have initially thought.
 
But Chicago is also another one of those teams that is fighting for consistency and fighting for eventual seeding in the playoffs. Because this team is absolutely not the same that was once considered one of the best in basketball at the halfway point of last season. But Chicago is coming off a 114-98 victory over the Hornets that may or may not get them back on track. It also tends to be a good night when DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine are shooting a combined 7 of 20 from the field and you still find a way to win by 16. Of course that is the territory that you have when Charlotte is near the bottom of the Eastern Conference this year. But still a rather decent victory for the Bulls.
 
“It's just a testament to our team,” Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu said. “We have a very deep team. At this point of the season, we're gonna need everyone to come out and play on both ends.”
 
Prediction
 
Normally the travel would impact a lot of things as it retains to Portland but the fact that they had all that time off and still got to Chicago off a relatively easy schedule, I would venture to guess that Portland is the much more rested team going into this situation and I believe that Portland will get the win here. Blazers 114, Bulls 106

Betting trends


Blazers are 10-9 ATS as a road underdog this season.

Blazers are 41-37 ATS in non-conference games the last 3 seasons.

Bulls are 4-12 ATS in non-conference games this season.

Projected starting lineup


Blazers:
PG: Damian Lillard
SG: Anfernee Simons
SF: Josh Hart
PF: Jerami Grant
C: Jusuf Nurkic

Bulls:
PG: Ayo Dosunmu
SG: Zach LaVine
SF: DeMar DeRozan
PF: Patrick Williams
C: Nikola Vucevic

Statistical leaders

Blazers:
Points: Damian Lillard -- 30.7
Rebounds: Jusuf Nurkic -- 9.4
Assists: Damian Lillard --7.3

Bulls:
Points: DeMar DeRozan -- 26.0
Rebounds: Nikola Vucevic -- 11.2
Assists: DeMar DeRozan -- 5.0

Don't miss our champion handicappers' free picks and expert basketball picks today. And if you enjoyed this Portland Trail Blazers - Chicago Bulls prediction, be sure to drop by every day for our daily NBA projections and previews.

Chuck Sommers

About the Author:

Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.

All photographic images used for editorial content have been licensed from the Associated Press.

© 2024 Al McMordie's BigAl.com. All Rights Reserved.