Posted:
#1
12-6, +5.40
With college hoops coming to a close, emphasis turns to baseball and the pro game. I’m a situational guy in these sports. Not a line movement type of guy, personnel in or out, none of that jazz; strictly situational spots when they occur.
I think if one thing is certain about the Bulls, it’s the fact that they have a coach who is willing to put his neck on the line every single night and try to get a victory every single night no matter the circumstance. That’s what we have with Tom Thibodeau, and a big reason he’s had the best record in the NBA the last few years coupled with the fact that he was the first coach to 100 victories. The Bulls haven’t lost back-to-back games at all this year, and here is the results after a loss this year:
Win by 10 (Sacramento) (98)
Win by 24 (Detroit) (83)
Win by 21 (Phoenix) (97)
Win by 7 (Milwaukee) (100)
Win by 10 (Washington) (88)
Win by 3 (New York) (102)
Win by 6 (Sacramento) (115)
Win by 11 (Atlanta) (79)
Win by 14 (Utah) (97)
Win by 9 (Philadelphia) (80)
Win by 21 (Atlanta) (77)
Looks like they’ve been extremely good bouncing back after a loss. Not only from the standpoint of wins and losses, but from the standpoint of being able to defend well. The second # in parenthesis is the amount of points they’ve given up in those games. It’s probably no coincidence that all the point totals they’ve given up have come to high-paced teams (Milwaukee 5th in pace, Sacramento 1st in pace, New York 3rd in pace, Phoenix 9th in pace). Houston isn’t all that fast of a team and they’re in a really interesting spot here, tonight. Not only do they have the task of facing the Bulls off a loss, they also come in off a come from an OT defeat. That OT defeat happens to be their third OT game they’ve been a part of in the past week, and they also have two lookahead spots here as well. One, they have 3 days off after this game, and two, they go to the Lakers next whom they just beat a few weeks ago. I think it’s a flat spot for Houston, here. On a b2b spot on the road, they’ve poured in 93, 89, 90, 91, 96, 98, 107, and 81 points respectively. Nothing spectacular about those #’s, and the important thing to note is that only two of those instances they had faced a top 10 defense in the league (they scored 93 and 81 in those two games). Now add in the fact that four starters played more than three quarters last night into OT, + the back-to-back, + the fact that the Bulls defend well off a loss, + the fact that they have some time off after this one, + the fact that they get to go to the Lakers on Friday, I smell a rough night for the Rockets. As for the Bulls, I just can’t trust them at this point with the injuries. Coming off yesterday’s game, I think you see a nice bounce-back at least on the defensive side of things. Yesterday’s meeting was their worst offensive output in the paint all year, and I expect they look to get the ball in the paint a bit more tonight, which doesn’t eat up a ton of clock, but is valuable in this angle here by doing so. Korver got the start yesterday b/c of match-ups instead of Brewer who came off the bench to guard Harden, so one of the best on-ball defender’s for the Bulls is a tad bit fresher. Since the Heat game a few weeks back where the Bulls were dogged by 3 at home playing without Rose where they couldn’t miss a basket and Lucas went crazy, the offense has been far from impressive: 89, 89, 85, 94, 102 (scored 94 in regulation), 91, 98, 83, and 78. They also have a few days off here before they welcome Boston in on Thursday, so a mini-look ahead there. Last thing, these two teams aren’t all that familiar with one another, as they haven’t matched up since December 2010, so may see a bit of a feeling out process to begin this one. This game shouldn’t see too many possessions, and barring a big offensive output from the Bulls, this one should stay under the total.
3* Rockets/Bulls Under 186.5
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