Golden State Visits the Windy City to Take on the Bulls
Wednesday night, the Windy City will play host to an NBA matchup between two of the league’s best teams when the Chicago Bulls host the defending champion Golden State Warriors. The current line has Golden State favored by 6.5 points with the over/under point total sitting on 214.
Golden State on the season has an overall record of 38-4 straight up and 25-16 against the spread. On the road, the Warriors are 19-4 SU and 15-7 ATS. Chicago on the season is 24-16 SU and 16-24 ATS. At home, the Bulls are 16-7 SU and 9-14 ATS.
The Warriors started their current road trip on a sour note, but seem to have straightened things out. Golden State will look for its second straight win on Wednesday over contenders from the Eastern Conference when they play the Bulls.
On Saturday, the Warriors lost to Detroit to start their road trip, but made a huge statement on Monday night in their 132-98 thrashing of Cleveland on the road. At the same time, Chicago is trying to adjust to playing without one of its top players.
Joakim Noah is sidelined with a shoulder injury leaving Pau Gasol even more responsibility. Gasol responded well on Monday scoring 31 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking 3 shots in a 10-point win over Detroit.
Golden State led Cleveland on Monday by 26 points at the half and never looked back. Stephen Curry scored 35 points to lead the Warriors.
Noah was reduced to coming off the bench and had fought through a number of injuries before likely ending his season during the weekend with a shoulder injury.
Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler will have to produce even more offensively for Chicago, but it will be the frontcourt that will miss Noah’s rebounding and defensive skills the most.
Curry has hit 22 of his 43 shots from beyond the 3-point arc the past three games.
Bulls guard Butler is amongst a number of players on Golden State including Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson and Curry, as finalists to play on Team USA.
The Warriors defeated Chicago 106-94 on November 20. Golden State has won 2 of the past 3 games head to head with Chicago.
Prediction: Golden State looks to have recovered from its hiccup earlier against Detroit with its thrashing of Cleveland, while Chicago is looking to find a way to replace Noah who is one of the league’s best defenders and a superb rebounder and passer. Take the Warriors in this one.
