DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>, Chicago is favored by 3.5 points and this game carries a total of 225.5 points.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s dive into my preview and pick for the game.<\/p>\n
Bulls vs. Clippers preview, prediction<\/p>\n
The Bulls have been hit-or-miss lately, winning three of their last six games. The team is 20-22 and ranks 23rd in net rating this season, but it appears to be getting some help Tuesday with Josh Giddey upgraded to questionable and trending toward making his return from a 10-game absence due to a hamstring injury. Giddey is having a career season, averaging a near triple-double of 19.2 points, 9.0 assists and 8.9 rebounds per game. Chicago\u2019s net rating is 3.3 points per 100 possessions better with Giddey on the floor, but the Bulls are still only 15-15 with him active this season.<\/p>\n
Giddey being back is good news for Chicago, but the Bulls are still just an average ball club with him and Giddey is likely to be limited tonight in his return. Coby White and Nikola Vucevic should both continue to see large usage rates with Giddey\u2019s minutes likely to be monitored. Chicago will be at home tonight, which is a big deal as the team is 13-9 at home this season, compared to 7-13 on the road. Plus, the Bulls haven\u2019t played since Sunday, while the Clippers are playing their second game in two nights, but Los Angeles is on a roll right now, winning six straight, which is the longest active win streak in the NBA. <\/p>\n
In fact, the Clippers have only lost two games in their last 15, as they attempt to recover from a very poor start to the season. Despite Los Angeles\u2019 recent surge, the team is still only 19-23 this season, but when we compare the league\u2019s last 15 games, the Clippers rank third in net rating. Kawhi Leonard (knee) will miss his third consecutive game tonight, but Los Angeles has been fine without him, beating the Raptors 120-117 in Toronto and then beating the Wizards yesterday at home 110-106. <\/p>\n
You would have liked to see the Clippers beat that 10-32 Washington team more convincingly, but extending their win streak to six in a row without Leonard was impressive nonetheless. James Harden has been awesome in Leonard\u2019s absence, posting 31 points and 10 assists, and 36 points and nine assists in these past two. Ivica Zubac has also recorded back-to-back double-doubles and Kris Dunn has been great defensively with Leonard sidelined.<\/p>\n
Leonard leads the team in plus\/minus, so the Clippers will need him back soon and while playing its second game in two nights isn\u2019t ideal, Los Angeles is playing great basketball right now and the team extending its win streak tonight is very possible vs. the inconsistent Bulls. Albeit with Leonard active, the last time the Clippers were playing their second game in two nights was just on Jan. 10th and that night, Los Angeles went into Detroit and beat the top-seeded Pistons 98-92 on their home floor.<\/p>\n
Bulls vs. Clippers pick, best bet<\/p>\n
Even with Leonard sidelined for the Clippers, it\u2019s hard to ignore Los Angeles\u2019 recent play and the team should secure its seventh straight win tonight over the up-and-down Bulls.<\/p>\n
At an appealing +136 price on the moneyline, backing the Clippers for the upset is the right move. Chicago is 9-11 when favored this season and Los Angeles has won six of the last seven games the team has been the underdog.<\/p>\n
Best Bet: Clippers ML (+136)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Hunter breaks down his analysis, prediction and pick for Tuesday\u2019s matchup between the Bulls and the Clippers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-549276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-clippers","12":"tag-laclippers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesclippers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115928676968038662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}