Time: 8 p.m. ET
Venue: United Center, Chicago, IL
Where to watch: NBCSCH, BSSE-CHA
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Bulls -6.5
FanDuel: Bulls -6.5
BetMGM: Bulls -6.5
Caesars: Bulls -6.5
Season record
Hornets: 15-37
Bulls: 23-27
The second half of the basketball season is upon us, and what a cluster we've got in the standings right now, right? So many teams are in the playoff hunt, so many teams not expected to make the playoffs are in the process of trying to prove people wrong. You know who doesn't need to be made wrong? Our champion handicappers who have been killing it all year long. Scott Rickenbach is coming off a 5-2-0 week over the last seven days, while Doc's Sports has been efficient at 14-8-0 over the last 30 days. Do you want to get on this winning? Make sure you're following our champion handicappers at bigal.com to celebrate in these moments!
Hornets - Bulls preview, prediction and analysis
Recent form
Hornets: lost 124-115 at Bucks
Bulls: lost 108-103 vs. Clippers
The Charlotte Hornets will try to win for the third time in four games when they visit the Chicago Bulls on Thursday at United Center in what we will always call the Michael Jordan bowl.
Charlotte is coming off a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks by the final score of 124-115 on Tuesday. Lamelo ball finished with a team high 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists to already become the franchise leader in triple double s. Mind you that this kid has played just two years period so of course none of this makes any sense.
Terry Rozier had 20 points on 6 of 20 shooting while also going just two of nine from the three-point line, and Gordon Hayward had 16 points on six of 12 shooting. For a team that shot just 37% from the field, Charlotte actually put up a ton of points. One way that helped was grabbing 18 offensive rebounds but somehow that was not enough.
“He got going when they kind of took control of the game,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford said of Khris Middleton, who had 18 points.
The Hornets have covered in their last three games and five out of the last seven. They have only been favored one time in that stretch and that was when they defeated the Houston Rockets 122-117 on January 18th when they were three-point favorites period since then they have been underdogs, mostly heavy dogs, with the latest game against Milwaukee as them getting 11 points. They covered by two, so it's been a good time to pick the Hornets.
Chicago is trying to avoid losing for the fourth time in five games in this matter. Chicago is coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday when they lost 108-103. Nikola Vucevic scored a team high 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while DeMar DeRozan had 20 points on 8 of 19 shooting, and Zach LaVine had 18 points to go with 14 rebounds and eight assists in the loss.
“No matter how you lose, it sucks. Period,” DeRozan said. “A team like that, veteran guys, extremely well coached, they’re not going to give up.”
Chicago did well enough to actually win this game. The bulls shot 49% from the field and made half of their three-point attempts, but the Clippers got to the free throw line five more times and made seven more than Chicago did, which completely altered the game.
Chicago is 4-3 against the spread in its last seven but has failed to cover in three of the last four. They got 2.5 points against the Clippers and failed to cover, they were favored by three against the Charlotte Hornets 5 days ago and miserably failed to cover, and they gave up 1.5 points against the Indiana Pacers 2 days prior to that and also failed to cover miserably.
Prediction
Chicago has won six of the last eight meetings and the under has cashed in five of the last seven times in Chicago. I wouldn't trust Chicago in this game, but Charlotte is in a weird predicament where you don't know what version of the Hornets you are going to get. I would very hesitantly take Chicago while they are laying 6.5. Bulls 110, Hornets 103
Betting trends
Hornets are 11-13 ATS as a road underdog this season.
Hornets are 35-26 ATS off a road loss the last 3 seasons.
Bulls are 52-42 ATS as a favorite the last 3 seasons.
Bulls are 26-37 ATS after scoring 105 points or less last game the last 3 seasons.
Projected starting lineup
Hornets:
PG: LaMelo Ball
SG: Terry Rozier
SF: Gordon Hayward
PF: P.J. Washington
C: Mason Plumlee
Bulls:
PG: Ayo Dosunmu
SG: Zach LaVine
SF: DeMar DeRozan
PF: Patrick Williams
C: Nikola Vucevic
Injury report
Hornets: Kelly Oubre Jr. (hand, out), Cody Martin (knee, out)
Bulls: Lonzo Ball (knee, out)
Statistical leaders
Hornets:
Points: LaMelo Ball -- 23.1
Rebounds: Mason Plumlee -- 9.8
Assists: LaMelo Ball -- 8.3
Bulls:
Points: DeMar DeRozan -- 26.3
Rebounds: Nikola Vucevic -- 11.1
Assists: DeMar DeRozan -- 5.0
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