Oklahoma City Thunder vs Chicago Bulls 1/24/22 NBA Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City Thunder collide at the Paycom Center on Monday night.

The Chicago Bulls have been in a real slump as they’ve lost six of their past seven games overall and they will be hoping to avoid a third straight loss after falling to the Magic in a 114-95 road defeat last night. DeMar DeRozan did all he could as he led the team with 41 points on 15 of 21 shooting, Coby White added 22 points while Nikola Vucevic tallied 13 points with 13 rebounds, but no other player scored more than seven points. As a team, the Bulls shot 43 percent from the field and a miserly five of 21 from the 3-point line as they got off to a terrible start and managed just 37 points in the first half to fall behind by 16 points at halftime and things only got worse in the fourth quarter where they trailed by as many as 20 points. Vucevic shot just four of 19 from the field while Troy Brown Jr finished with just three points on one of five shooting off the bench.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been in a major slump as they’ve lost 10 of their past 11 games overall and they will be hoping to put an end to a five-game slide after getting stopped by the Cavaliers in a 94-87 road loss on Saturday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the team with 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists on 12 of 23 shooting, Kenrich Williams added 12 points off the bench while Luguentz Dort chipped in with 10 points. As a team, the Thunder shot just 38 percent from the field and 12 of 41 from the 3-point line as they kept pace with the Cavaliers in a tight contest until the third quarter where the Cavaliers went on a 21-7 run to pull away and put them behind by as many as 17 points.

Looking at the betting trends, the Bulls are 39-19 ATS in their 58 games against a team with a losing record and 5-2 ATS in their last seven road games against a team with a losing home record. The Thunder are 7-1-1 ATS in their last nine home games, 5-1-1 ATS in their last seven games against a team with a winning record and 14-5-1 ATS in their last 20 games overall.

Head to head, the over is 4-1 in the last five meetings in Oklahoma City and the over is 5-1 in the last six meetings overall.

The Bulls are going to be severely shorthanded once again as Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Zach LaVine are all still out while the Thunder are almost at full strength except for Derrick Favors who is out. The Bulls really need a win to get their season back on track, but their confidence dropped to new lows after last night’s ugly loss to the slumping Magic. The Thunder know a thing or two about slumps as they’ve lost 10 of their last 11 games, but this could be a good spot for them, given how shorthanded the Bulls will be in this one. You can make an argument for either side, but I’m leaning towards the Thunder as the slight home underdogs in this spot.