Hawks vs. Bulls Line at Chicago -10.5
This is Dan Shaprio reporting for Gambling911.com. Carrie Stroup has this President's Day off. The Hawks vs. Bulls line for the February 20, 2012 game was coming in at -10.5 in favor of Chicago. You can find all the latest NBA betting lines here at Sportsbook.com.
Sportsbook.com Line & Total: Chicago -10.5 & 181.5
Opening Line & Total: Bulls -10 & 182
The Bulls should finally have reigning MVP Derrick Rose back in the lineup when they host Atlanta on Monday.
Rose (22.0 PPG, 7.8 APG) has missed the Bulls’ past five games because of back problems, the last of which was an embarrassing SU home loss to New Jersey as double-digit favorites on Saturday. They’ll have a chance to overwhelm an Atlanta team that has been very mediocre without C Al Horford. Since Horford went down with a torn pectoral muscle in January, the Hawks are 12-9 SU but just 8-12-1 ATS, and they’ve gone just 1-5 SU and ATS in road games against teams that currently have a winning record.
The Hawks are in the midst of a five-game road trip to wrap up the season’s first half, and it hasn’t gotten off to a particularly good start. They were beaten handily by the Lakers and Portland, sandwiched around a narrow win in Phoenix (an ATS push). Their backcourt of Joe Johnson (17.7 PPG) and Jeff Teague (12.2 PPG) is struggling right now. Johnson is averaging just 14.3 PPG and shooting 37.5% from the field (22.9% from three) over his past six games. He’s shooting 29.3% on 3-pt FG in road games this year. Teague played well in Phoenix, but then shot 1-for-10 FG, scoring five points in the Portland loss. He’s making just 39.1% of his shots in February.
Atlanta has gotten strong play from PF Josh Smith (16.0 PPG, 9.5 RPG) and SG Willie Green (7.4 PPG) of late, with Smith averaging a team-high 19.7 PPG through the first three games of their road trip while Green has added 14.3 PPG on 61% FG coming off the bench. The Hawks covered in both their early-season games with the Bulls, including a two-point loss in Chicago.
It looked like the Bulls might be fine without Rose when they beat Boston at home on Thursday. But they followed it up with a debacle against the Nets, losing by 12 to one of the Eastern Conference’s bottom-feeders. PG C.J. Watson (10.4 PPG) has been an erratic fill-in for Rose, averaging 12.0 PPG during this recent five-game absence but shooting just 34.4% from the field and consistently making poor decisions late in games. Chicago’s frontcourt remained strong however, and PF Carlos Boozer (15.6 PPG, 8.4 RPG) and C Joakim Noah (9.6 PPG, 9.6 RPG) will be a handful for the now undersized Hawks.
- Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com
