Tim Duncan may find winning streaks boring because he’s been in a whole lot of those during his lengthy career, but the fact that the San Antonio Spurs are on a five-game winning run has the team’s fanbase all excited. The Spurs look to extend that streak later tonight when they play the Chicago Bulls at United Center. The Bulls, meanwhile, target a bounce back performance following a bad loss to Indiana on Friday.
Read on for a breakdown of this matchup. Looking for more? Click here for a preview of tonight’s Ravens vs. Browns NFL matchup.
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San Antonio Spurs vs. Chicago Bulls Preview
Where: United Center, Chicago
When: Monday, November 30, 2015, 8:30 PM ET
Line: San Antonio Spurs (-3.5) vs. Chicago Bulls (+3.5); total: 191.0 – view all NBA lines
TV Broadcast: NBA TV
Betting on the San Antonio Spurs (14-3)
Golden State may be the toast of the NBA world because of its unbelievable start to the season, but the Spurs are also having quite a year. With a 108-88 win on Saturday against Atlanta, the Spurs improved their record to 14-3.
[sc:NBA240banner ]And unlike the Warriors, San Antonio is having success largely because of the team’s defense that has limited opponents to only 89.7 points per game thus far this season, the fewest in the league. The Spurs have been even better of late, as they’ve kept their last five opponents to only 83.4 PPG on 42.6 percent shooting. The Spurs’ stringent defense was on full display in the Atlanta game, where they held the normally finesses offense of the Hawks to only 42.5% (37-for-87) shooting from the field.
That doesn’t bode well for the Bulls, who are having problems finding their rhythm on offense, as they’ve averaged just 95.6 points over their last five games.
Chicago, however, is a terrific rebounding team—third in the NBA—so LaMarcus Aldridge and Tim Duncan have some tough assignment in keeping Pau Gasol and the Bulls big men off the glass. Aldridge leads the Spurs in rebounding with 9.1 per game, while also scoring 14.8 points a night. Duncan has 8.8 RPG, while do-it-all forward Kawhii Leonard has 7.8.
Leonard, who scored 22 points against Atlanta, paces the team with 22.0 PPG, but his role toight will stretch onto the defensive side of the ball, where’ll hell be tasked to shadow Bulls gunner Jimmy Butler.
San Antonio is 3-1 SU and ATS in its last four road games.
After going 2-2 in a recent four-game road trip, punctuated by a 104-92 loss to Indiana on Friday, the Bulls return home later tonight for a showdown with San Antonio.
As mentioned earlier, the Bulls have been struggling on offense and their scoring troubles came to light anew in the loss to Indiana, in which they shot just 34.8% from the floor (32-for-92).
Derrick Rose continues to be in disarray, as he’s shot 11-for-36 the past two games, which includes a bad 4-for-16 outing against Indiana. On the season, the former MVP is shooting just 36.3% from the field, while averaging just 13.6 PPG.
If there’s a bright spot, though, for the Bulls’ offense, it’s Nikola Mirotic, who’s been playing well of late. Mirotic averaged 16.5 points over the Bulls’ last four games and that includes his explosion in the Indiana game, wherein he had 25 points on an efficient 8-for-14 shooting (2-for-4 on threes).
The Bulls certainly could use help from their bench during the team’s current offensive slump. On the season, Chicago’s bench is scoring just 31.5 PPG. Kirk Hinrich has been a solid contributor off the bench for the Bulls, as the veteran guard has averaged 11.3 points in the past four outings. Doug McDermott and Tony Snell, however, will have to do more, as they’ve chipped in just a combined output of 7.1 PPG during that stretch.
The Bulls are 5-1 SU in six games at home, and are averaging 97.3 PPG.
