NBA Basketball Matchup: Rockets vs Bulls
The Houston Rockets are fighting for their playoff lives and are in tough spot on Monday night. It will the their third game in 4 nights and they will be visiting the team with the best record in the league.
Houston Rockets (28-24) vs Chicago Bulls (42-11)
Monday April 2
United Center – Chicago, IL
8:00PM
Moneyline: No money line currently listed.
Spread: Chicago -8
O/U: 187
Houston
This Rockets club is far from spectacular and is probably right where most would have placed them before the year started. They are in the fight of their lives the rest of the way as things tighten up and they are forced to play without guards Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin.
Martin and Lowry were their top and third best scorers so they have been forced to look elsewhere for scoring of late. Rookie forward Chandler Parsons, who is a nifty point forward kind of a player has come on scoring 12 or more in 5 of his last 6 games including two double-doubles. He and power forward Luis Scola are a nice combo but they are a little soft. Center Samuel Dalenbert can be a presence in the middle on D but he is not exactly a brute either. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Chicago
It will be interesting to see what kind of game we get from the Bulls on Monday night. They had a huge tilt against Oklahoma City yesterday and put up an egg. They lost by 14 points but that was only after a furious 4th quarter in which they outscored the Thunder by 15. The Bulls were missing ace point guard Derrick Rose for this one but that is something they have unfortunately gotten used. They are flying home with their tail between their legs right now.
Against the Thunder only one starter broke double digits in scoring – long range bomber Kyle Korver. In fact the leading scorer was tiny point guard John Lucas who has taken Rose’s injury as a chance to show he can be an NBA contributor with some big game in March. The loss to OKC was a big blow to the Bulls ego but not much in the standings provided they get back to winning quickly. The next 5 games are against teams currently in the playoffs.
Spread Pick: Houston +8
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Chicago 99 – Houston 92
