NBA Premium Play 12/19

NBA - 501 Chicago Bulls @ 502 Oklahoma City Thunder

Play #1

This OKC vs. CHI contest was suppose to be one of the best games of the regular season but obviously this won’t happen tonight, as the Bulls are far from being a top team. I expect this contest to be an ugly affair, low scoring game as my fair line is 188 points.

The Bulls offense has been just awful without Derrick Rose. They are inconsistent from long range and Carlos Boozer is struggling by shooting just 38.2% FG in the last 10 games. Last night, the Bulls were able to score 94 points @ HOU due to the good offensive games from Deng, Butler and Boozer. This isn’t a surprise at all because the Rockets are a subpar defensive team @ SG, SF & PF positions. The same thing cannot be said about OKC defense!

OKC is one of the best teams protecting the rim by allowing less than 60% FG, their athleticism will make life difficult for the Bulls down low. With the Bulls struggling to score easy points down low, their inability to be consistent from the long range and their bad physical spot = CHI will struggle to score! So far in the season, the Bulls have played 5 b2b games and they shot 39.6% FG while scoring less than 90 points per game in those games. In fact, in the L3 b2b games, the Bulls have scored 83, 78 and 77 points!

The “good” news for them is that the Bulls defense is still a solid unit especially w/ Deng and Butler on the court. I know that they have allowed the Rockets to score 109 points last night, but note that OKC doesn’t have any “Dwight Howard” on the post, capable of producing 11-14 FG in 34 minutes of action while outplaying Joakim Noah. The Rockets’ great inside-out game was just too much for the Bulls defense.

Fortunately for them, OKC doesn’t have suck skilled man down low. The fact that CHI plays always w/ 2 “bigs” will force OKC’s Head Coach Scott Brooks to play BIG as well, and by not using their small ball lineup w/ Durant as PF = good news for any Under play. Deng & Butler will guard Durant and Westbrook and we are talking of 2 elite individual defensive players.

CHI will try to turn this contest into a half court battle and I expect the contest to be relatively slow paced game and with CHI’s offense being dreadful & CHI’s good individual defense vs. 2 best OKC players, I’m taking the Under as my Single Dime Play!

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 501/502 Under 192 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker