Even the Los Angeles Lakers were shocked when they took down the Golden State Warriors last Tuesday despite missing Kobe Bryant. Another tough test awaits the Lakers on Christmas as they travel to the Windy City to face Derrick Rose and the rest of the Chicago Bulls, who are soaring right now.
Will the Lakers come up with another upset victory? Find out what we think of this ball game and our prediction too below. For more Christmas NBA games previews, you can click here for Warriors vs. Clippers and here for Cavs vs. Heat.
[sc:NBAArticles ]Los Angeles Lakers vs. Chicago Bulls Betting Preview
Where: United Center, Chicago
When: Thursday, December 25, 2014, 8:00PM ET
Line: Los Angeles Lakers at Chicago Bulls – view all NBA lines
Betting on the Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers didn’t wait for Christmas to give their fans a surprising present, as the team totally owned the Golden State Warriors—the team with the best record in the NBA—on Tuesday for a shocking 115-105 victory.
[sc:NBA240banner ]With Kobe Bryant taking a day off, the Lakers showed great ball movement and excellent shooting on their way to only their ninth victory of the season. Overall, the Lakers shot 51.7 percent from the field (49-for59), including 12 three-pointers on 26 attempts against the Warriors. Starting point guard Ronnie Price led the team’s playmaking with eight of the Lakers’ 28 assists, while also chipping in 17 points.
It’s uncertain if Bryant will play against the Bulls but if he sits out again, expect the Lakers’ production on offense to spread out just like it did in the Golden State game. Seven different Lakers scored in double digits against the Warriors led by Carlos Boozer, who came off the bench and fired 18 points to go along with his nine rebounds.
Bryant is the Lakers’ leading scorer this season with 24.6 PPG, but is taking more than one-third (22.4/87.1) of Los Angeles’ shot attempts per game.
Nick Young and Jeremy Lin also gave the team a major boost as relievers. Young and Lin scored 15 and 11 points, respectively and combined for five of the Lakers’ 12 three-pointers against Golden State. The Lakers’ outside shooting will be key against Chicago, which has Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah making life hard for opposing teams to score around the basket. Chicago holds its opponents down to 56.4 FG% near the basket this season.
The Lakers are 5-1 ATS in their last six games overall.
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Betting on the Chicago Bulls
The Bulls are heading to their Christmas game against the Lakers with a chance to record their longest win-streak of this season.
The Bulls tied their season-best four-game win streak after surviving the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, 99-91. Except for the Washington game, the Bulls have been scoring past the century mark in each of their last four games. The team is averaging 108.5 PPG during that stretch on 47.2 FG%.
Derrick Rose was in his MVP-form against the Wizards, scoring 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting. Since returning from the sick bay due to illness, Rose has averaged 27.0 PPG in the last two Bulls’ games.
His backup, Aaron Brooks, is also averaging 16.3 PPG in the last four games, a significant bump up from his season average of 11.1 PPG. Brooks and Nikola Mirotic lead the Bulls’ bench that puts up 29.7 PPG.
Mirotic cooled off a bit against Washington with just seven points. In three games prior to that game, the rookie had averaged 17.3 PPG. He’ll get his chance to pick up his game again against a Lakers’ defense that surrenders a league-worst 109.1 PPG. The same goes with the Bulls’ scoring leader, Jimmy Butler. Butler (21.7 PPG) scored only 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting from the field against Washington after lighting up the scoreboard with 35, 31, and 27 points against the Raptors, Grizzlies, and Knicks, respectively.
Chicago could also take advantage of the Lakers’ leaky interior defense. The Bulls scored 50 points in the paint against Washington and could see a repeat of that inside dominance against Los Angeles, which allows opposing teams to score 45.5 PPG in the shaded area.
Chicago is 3-0 ATS in its last three home games against the Lakers.
Writer’s Prediction
Chicago wins, 104-95.
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