The Chicago Bulls visit the Portland Trail Blazers tonight for their second straight Western Conference matchup. It’s time to continue our NBA odds series and make a Bulls-Blazers prediction and pick.
The Bulls hold a record of 3-4, but they are 4-3 against the spread. They are coming off a win against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Blazers stand at 3-3, and they are 2-4 against the spread. In Portland's last matchup, they were torched by Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in a blowout loss.
Here’s how sportsbooks have set the opening Bulls-Blazers odds.
NBA Odds: Bulls-Blazers Odds
Chicago Bulls +10 (-115)
Portland Trail Blazers -10 (-105)
Over 232.5 Points (-110)
Under 232.5 Points (-110)
Why The Bulls Could Cover The Spread
The Bulls are entering Portland coming off their best win of the season after toppling the Mavericks in Chicago on Sunday. Granted, the Mavs played without Luka Doncic, but the Bulls still impressed as underdogs to a Western Conference contender.
The best takeaway from the Dallas matchup for Bulls fans was that Zach LaVine is heating up. After two straight clunkers against the Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards, the Bulls star torched the Mavs for 39 points on 14-25 shooting from the field.
Chicago will need LaVine to step up again against the Blazers. In games where LaVine scores 23+ points this season, the Bulls are 3-1. It's a good bet he tops that mark tonight.
Like the Blazers, the Bulls are not exactly defensively minded. Chicago allows the most points in the league, but the Blazers are not far behind, coming in at 26th out of 30.
Still, the gap between these two teams defensively is slim to none. Right now, neither team is stopping anyone.
Ten points is a lot of juice to lay for a Blazers team that has won by double digits just once. In a game that the Bulls could win straight up, that many points is appealing.
Why The Blazers Could Cover The Spread
Looking at these two teams, this game seems destined to be a shootout. It's hard to bet against Damian Lillard and a red hot CJ McCollum right now when the three's start falling.
McCollum is gunning for his first All-Star appearance, averaging 28.0 points a game while shooting 43% from three-point range.
After a slow start to the season, Lillard is heating up as well. In the two games against the Warriors, Lillard shot 12-25 from downtown. Before that, Dame had hit a total of 11 three-pointers.
The Bulls don't have the firepower to match up to this Blazers backcourt. The only reason the Blazers didn't sweep the Warriors was because Stephen Curry went ballistic. No disrespect to LaVine, but the Bulls don't have anyone to match that performance.
The Blazers will bleed points. They just need to punch harder than they get punched, and they have the upper hand in that aspect of this matchup.
If Lillard and McCollum heat up early, this one could be over heading into the fourth quarter.
Final Bulls-Blazers Prediction & Pick
Both the Blazers and the Bulls have been wildly inconsistent. Of the two, Chicago has at least been easier to predict. Coming off their best game of the season, I expect them to at least make this respectable. I think Chicago can withstand one of the Blazers backcourt going off, and LaVine will have another big game to keep them in punching distance. Ten points is too big of a spread here, so I'll take the Bulls to cover in a loss.
FINAL SCORE PREDICTION: POR 122, CHI 118
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