Chicago Bulls (30-17) vs. San Antonio Spurs (18-31)
January 28, 2022 8:30 pm EDT
The Line: San Antonio Spurs +1.5; Over/Under: +228
(Get latest betting odds)
The Chicago Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs duke it out at the AT&T Center on Friday night.
The Chicago Bulls have been in a rut as they’ve lost six of their past nine games overall, but they will be aiming for a third straight win after sneaking past the Raptors in a 111-105 home win on Wednesday. DeMar DeRozan led the team with 29 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, Zach LaVine added 23 points with eight rebounds and eight assists while Nikola Vucevic tallied 17 points with 15 rebounds and eight assists. As a team, the Bulls shot 54 percent from the field and seven of 26 from the 3-point line as they squandered an early 19-point lead, before closing the game on a decisive 9-2 run in the final 3:00 to escape with the much-needed win.
Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs have been in a real slump lately as they’ve lost 13 of their past 17 games overall and they will be hoping to bounce back after falling short to the Grizzlies in a 118-110 home loss on Wednesday. Devin Vassell led the team with 20 points off the bench, Keldon Johnson and Jakob Poeltl each scored 18 points while Dejounte Murray tallied a triple-double of 16 points with 10 rebounds and 11 assists. As a team, the Spurs shot 45 percent from the field and nine of 37 from the 3-point line as they kept pace with the Grizzlies in a tight contest until late in the fourth quarter where the Spurs went ice-cold and scored just four points in the final 4:51 to allow the Grizzlies to escape late.
Looking at the betting trends, the Bulls are 3-1-1 ATS in their last five games against a team with a losing record, 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight road games and 3-1-1 ATS in their last five games overall. The Spurs are 1-4 ATS in their last five home games, 0-6 ATS in their last six games against a team with a winning record and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
Head to head, the over is 5-1 in the last six meetings in San Antonio.
The Bulls will again be without Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Derrick Jones Jr. while the Spurs are just about at full strength except for Keita Bates-Diop who is out. The Bulls have really gone off the boil over their past nine games, but they’ve been in much better form than the Spurs despite all their injuries. I want to take the Spurs as the home underdogs, but the Bulls are the team in better form and I’m expecting DeRozan to lead the way with a big game against his former team.
