Demar Derozan and the Chicago Bulls travel to San Antonio for a battle with the Spurs as five point betting favorites.
The 3-2 Chicago Bulls look to build off of two consecutive wins at the United Center, as they head to San Antonio for the first night of a back-to-back to face the 3-2 Spurs. With a meeting looming Saturday night against an Eastern Conference contender in the 76ers, the Chicago Bulls have listed Zach LaVine as questionable with “injury management” as the designation.
I mentioned on Wednesday’s blog that I hate to speculate and guess an injury, which I went ahead and did anyways, but it does seem like with the Bulls are enacting a load management approach to LaVine tonight. It may be expected that the team prefers his full effort against a playoff contending Eastern Conference team tomorrow night, as opposed to a less-talented non-conference team here tonight.
Wednesday night, we played the Chicago Bulls team total over, and while it ended up being a last-minute winner, we moved to 4-1 on the young season! Win, lose or draw, I will keep these best bets rolling in, and with any luck, the wins will keep piling up. Let’s keep this thing alive, and let’s get a nice win streak rolling for our guys. Best of luck, and GO BULLS!!
2022 Bulls Best Bet Record: 4-1
Demar Derozan Over 27.5 Points (Sportsbook odds may vary)
I typically keep myself away from ‘star-player’ props in the NBA, but of course in every case, there is a time and place to bet on the noteworthy names. In tonight’s case, I think Demar Derozan has a prime opportunity to light the score sheet up, against his former team.
To get things off and rolling, I mentioned Zach LaVine’s injury status in the intro. While a present Zach LaVine could still offer a great night for Derozan, an absent LaVine will almost certainly guarantee us a serious volume of opportunities for Demar. The difference in scoring volume and usage, understandably is night and day.
To open the season on the road in Miami and Washington, with LaVine sidelined, Derozan tallied 37 and 32 points attempting 22 and 23 shots across those two games. In the three games since, his totals drop to 18.3 points on 13.3 shots attempted, with the highest numbers of each coming against Boston, recording 25 points on 17 shots. Similar splits can be seen across last year’s campaign as well, as Demar’s massive month of February was spent largely with LaVine on the sideline.
The other point to make that is less important, but still noteworthy, is the revenge factor. Derozan spent three years in San Antonio prior to joining the Chicago Bulls last season, and in both matchups last year Demar was fantastic. With Zach LaVine in the lineup, Derozan ended the first of the two games with 32 points on 22 attempts in a loss, and in the second meeting without LaVine, dropped 40 points and 7 assists in a 120-109 win in that unbelievable February run.
I’m taking a risk with the expectation that Zach LaVine will be out, and if so, fully expect 20-plus shot attempts from Derozan. If that is not the case and LaVine ends up suiting up tonight, I can still take solace in knowing that Demar is more than capable of putting together a huge night, regardless of who his running mates are.
I am treading lightly on the spread for this game, as San Antonio has scoring ability of their own and has proven to be a tough matchup for our Bulls defense, but by no means am I telling you to avoid betting the Bulls. I think this game is a closely contested game, offering for plenty of scoring volume for guys on both sides here, but certainly feel the strongest that Derozan will show up big tonight.
Best of luck tonight, and I will see you tomorrow for a big matchup with Philly at the UC!
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