The Portland Trail Blazers continue onto the second-leg of their four-game road trip with a clash against the second-seed Chicago Bulls in the Windy City. This matchup features two of the most injury-stricken teams in the NBA. While a lot of key rotation members will be sidelined, there will still be plenty of talent and firepower available in this game.
Chicago has struggled to account for their lack of bodies — particularly shorthanded on the defensive end of the court — trudging to a 3-7 record in their last 10 games.
Portland dropped both games of their short two-game homestand but got back on track with a convincing victory over the Houston Rockets. Now, they’ll look to start a winning streak against one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams.
Portland Trail Blazers @ Chicago Bulls: preview, injury report, betting guide
Injury Report:
Portland Trail Blazers:
Robert Covington – probable (knee)
Norman Powell – probable (knee)
Dennis Smith Jr. – probable (ankle, knee)
CJ Elleby – out (hamstring)
Nassir Little – out (shoulder)
Damian Lillard – out (abdominal surgery)
Larry Nance Jr. – out (knee)
Cody Zeller – out (knee)
Chicago Bulls:
Derrick Jones Jr. – out (finger)
Lonzo Ball – out (meniscus)
Alex Caruso – out (wrist)
Patrick Williams – out (wrist)
Spread: Chicago Bulls -6, Moneyline +200
WynnBet has the Chicago Bulls, led by DeMar DeRozan‘s MVP campaign, as six-point favorites at home. Thankfully, the Portland Trail Blazers should have three of their top defenders available in Jusuf Nurkic, Robert Covington, and Norman Powell. Portland will need their length against DeRozan’s slashing and Zach LaVine‘s picture-perfect game.
The Bulls injuries have severely diminished their ability to get stops, as they heavily relied on ball-pressure from Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso in order to generate chaos among the opponent’s offense. They’ve given up 110 or more points in eight of their last 10 games.
The Trail Blazers have more than enough talent to land some blows against Chicago’s reeling defense and should be able to take advantage of Nikola Vucevic‘s slow feet in pick-and-rolls.
Chicago’s top scorers in DeRozan and LaVine should be able to pick apart the Trail Blazers shaky perimeter defense, but RoCo and Nurk have been on top of their games as help defenders lately.
Portland should be able to come up with enough stops along the way to at least make this game interesting.
Verdict: Portland Trail Blazers +6
Over/under: 229
With the way this game is set to be matched up — Portland’s best attackers versus Chicago’s worst defenders and vice versa — it’s understandable why WynnBet tagged a higher total for today’s over/under.
Still, there’s plenty of leeway for offensive explosions in this matinee game.
Chicago just came off a contest that saw 253 total points scored in a matchup with a far inferior offensive team in the San Antonio Spurs. Same goes for the Trail Blazers who with their last opponent, the Houston Rockets, combined for 235.
Expect to see a lot of lazy Sunday drives on defense today, but plenty of offensive fireworks.
Verdict: Over 229