Burns Bulls at Bucks Predictions
December 1, 2009
Last night Ben Burns got a little luck with one of his NBA picks when he took the Chicago Bulls over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks ended up winning the game by two points, but luckily the NBA point spreads gave the Bulls three. Sorry Bucks backers but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades and the money goes to Ben and his clients. Let’s take a look at why Burns thought Chicago was the play last night:
I’m taking the points with CHICAGO. Both these teams could really use a victory. While the Bucks are at home, I feel that the situation favors the Bulls, who I also believe are the ‘stronger’ team.
It’s no secret that the Bulls are a better team when playing at home. That’s been the case for a few years and it’s been like that so far this season, too. That said, they know that they need to drastically improve their road record, in order to “take the next step” in becoming one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference.
Tonight, the Bulls are playing the final game of a difficult six-game road trip, their annual “Circus Trip.” They began the trip with a convincing victory at Sacramento, back on Nov. 17. Given that the Kings are playing fairly well at home again these days, that was fairly impressive. Their next four games have all come at very difficult venues though (LA, Denver, Portland and Utah) and the Bulls have dropped all four of those games. Given that they were underdogs of at least seven points in all those games, it’s not completely shocking that they went 0-4 SU. However, they’ve also been blown out in each of those games, going 0-4 at the betting window. Naturally, that doesn’t sit too well with the players or fans. Tonight’s game, however, comes against a much weaker opponent, a lower-tier (or, at least mediocre) team from the Eastern Conference, one which the Bulls know they can beat. No team likes to get blown out in five straight games and I expect the Bulls to respond with a much better effort.
While a long road trip can be exhausting, the Bulls have had plenty of time off between games and should be fresh. They last played on 11/26 and before that, they played on 11/23. The Bucks, on the other hand, may not be quite as fresh. Milwaukee did have yesterday off. However, they played on Saturday and that was their sixth game in nine nights. The fact that they lost a heart-breaker (100-98 vs. Magic after blowing 15 points second half lead) may have them still hanging their heads a bit, too.
Despite their overall losing record, the Bulls are already 2-0 this season vs. division opponents. That includes a 83-81 win over the Bucks earlier this month. Looking back further and we find them at 22-12 SU (21-13 ATS) their last 34 divisional games. During the same stretch, the Bucks are just 11-23 in their divisional games. Overall, the Bulls are 11-2 the last 13 meetings in the series. I expect them to bounce back and close out the trip with a MUCH better effort. *8 Best Bet
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