Game Time: 3:30 PM ET, Sunday, January 30th, 2022 

Venue:  United Center, Chicago Illinois

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread: Bulls -5; O/U 230

BetMGM:  Spread:  Bulls -5.5; O/U 230.5

VegasInsider:  Spread: Bulls -5; O/U230.5

WynnBet: Spread:  Bulls -5; O/U 230.5

Trail Blazers: 21-28, 10th place Western Conference

Bulls: 30-18, 2nd place Eastern Conference

A non-conference matchup between a Western Conference doormat and an Eastern Conference big baller.  It’s unfair to call the Trail Blazers doormats.  Everyone likes the Trail Blazers two stars  PG Damien Lilliard and SG CJ McCollum.  They are great players who play great together.  Since they are undersized scorers the onus to make this team a winning one has been on Blazers management for years now,,, literally year after year the Portland fans have been waiting for management to hook these two amazing guards up with a quality set of teammates… specifically a strong big man!  A frontcourt of any quality to go with a backcourt this talented would have produced a real actual winner.  It never happened.  The result of years of waiting for the unavailable relief has tied this team to the NBA’s middle.  They are never bad enough to get good draft picks… and never good enough to be seen as a real contender.  PG Damian Lilliard may be a top 3 point guard in the league… a real all time all star.  Except now he is injured and it is clear that the Blazers have painted this roster into a corner where the only way out if to trade Lilliard (and McCollum) and try again.  The Bulls managed an amazing overnight rebuild… or BUILD. Rebuild implies they were somewhere before and for most of the last 23 years they have been nowhere. Finally this last off-season they traded well, drafted well, and kept the right players.  The result is this once cellar-dweller is a full force Eastern Conference contender.   They now pair SG Zach LaVine with the resurgent SF DeMar DeRozan, add in C Nikola Vucevic and we have a SUCCESS STORY.  It is important to mention that this team is deep.  They are usually deep except PG Lonzo Ball is out with injury and SG Alex Caruso was attacked by the Milwaukee Bucks hotheaded asperger monster Grayson Allen. Caruso is out with a broken wrist.  Those two guys were big parts of the success.  Still the bulls can turn to SG Coby White off the bench and get good minutes as that kid at times looks like a future star.    So the Bulls without Lonzo Ball will be heavily favored over the Trail Blazers without Damian Lilliard… let’s look at the numbers and see how confidently we can make this bet.

Portland won their last game against the Houston Rockets, but then everyone beats the Rockets.  The Blazers have 6 wins in their last ten games.  That has led them to move up a spot in the standings to 10th… which technically is the last spot for the NBA playoff play-in tournament.  The teams that have beaten them on this run are the Miami Heat, the Denver Nuggets, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Dallas Mavericks…. The Heat is forgivable, but Portland can not afford to drop so many games to mid-level Western Conference foes.  That will leave them treading water for the rest of the season.  They are playing hard though.  With guard Anfernee Simons in the lineup instead of Lilliard the team has gutted out 7-3 wins ATS over the last ten games.

The Bulls have won 2 of their last 3 games, but only 3 wins in their last 10.  Their last ten games have been the roughest patch of the whole season.  Everyone went down with injury.  Lonzo Ball will miss another month of play, Caruso another 6 weeks, but the worst stretch was when SG all-star Zach LaVine missed a week of play… that forced DeMar DeRozan to do much more, but it hundred the wins and took away the #1 ranking they had worked hard to get.  Fortunately for the Bulls the Brooklyn Nets also started tumbling in the standings at the same time… so if the Bulls can right the ship they may be able to hold on to a top-three spot the rest of the way… and ultimately return to full strength in time for the playoffs.  On Friday night San Antonio beat Chicago 131-122… it was a big loss and of course a loss against the spread.  With a deep breath and a reshuffling of the starting lineup (Ayo Dosunmo is not ready for this moment… a rookie second round pick should not be starting… Zach should play the point alongside Coby White at the #2).  They will see the Portland Trail Blazers as a very welcome easy win… hopefully they can pull it off.

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Portland is 21-28 on the season, but 21-27-1 ATS.  They have logged 24 Overs, 24 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are a dismal 7-15 on the road.

Chicago is 30-18 on the season, but 27-20-1 ATS.  They have notched 24 Overs, 23 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 17-6 in home games.

Portland is 15th in scoring with 108.8 ppg, 24th in rebounds with 43.6 per game, and 20th in AST/TO ratio with 1.6. They are all over the map shooting the ball… 21st in FG%, 7th in 3PT%, and 17th in FT%.  On defense they are not good.  They rank 27th defensively while giving up 112.3 ppg to opponents.

Chicago is 11th in scoring with 110.6 ppg, 28th in rebounds with 42.8 per game, and 9th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8.  They are shooting great.. 2nd in FG%, 2nd in 3PT%, and 5th in FT%.  They are average defensively at 16th while allowing 109 ppg.  With all the injuries on this roster all season, while mixing in entirely new players everywhere on the court, a mid-level defense is still pretty good.

Our prediction for Sunday, January 30th is….  Bulls 118 - Blazers 103

The Bulls should roll this one.  The Blazers have been playing better but not against quality teams… against quality teams they still fold.  The bet is Bulls to win and cover.

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

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

3 of 4 games in this matchup have gone Under the last 3 seasons.

Portland: PG Damian Lilliard (abs) Out ** SF Nassir Little (Shoulder) Out ** SF Larry Nance Jr (knee) Out ** PF Cody Zeller (knee) Out

Chicago: SG Alex Caruso (Wrist) Out ** PG Lonzo Ball (knee) Out ** SF Patrick Williams (wrist) Out ** Sf Derrick Jones Jr (knee) Out

Trail Blazers: SF Norman Powell, PF Robert Covington, C Jusuf Nurkic, PG Anfernee Simons, SG CJ McCollum

Bulls: SF DeMar DeRozan, PF Javonte Green, C Nikola Vucevic, SG Zach LaVine, PG Ayo Dosunmu

Blazers

Points: Damian Lilliard 24

Assists: Damian Lilliard 7.3

Rebounds: Jusuf Nurkic 10.8

Steals: Robert Covington 1.4

Blocks: Robert Covington 1.3

Bulls

Points: DeMar DeRozan 26.5

Assists: Lonzo Ball 5.1

Rebounds: Nikola Vucevic 11.3

Steals: Alex Caruso 1.9

Blocks: Nikola Vucevic 1.1

Portland: Chauncey Billups

Chicago: Billy Donovan