Posted on
1/2/2008 5:49:49 PM
NBA Basketball Betting – Chicago at Charlotte
By Charles Jay
The Chicago Bulls (11-18 SU, 10-19 ATS), who seem to have new life under a new coach, will try to continue its improved play on Wednesday night when they visit the Charlotte Bobcats Arena to play the Bobcats (11-18 SU, 10-18-1 ATS) in an NBA matchup that is scheduled to tip off at 7 PM ET.
In the BetUS NBA basketball betting odds, the game is a pick'em, with the total posted at 191.5 points.
In the HEAD-to-HEAD NBA betting trends:
* CHI has won and covered five of the last six meetings
* Four of the last five meetings have gone UNDER the total
* CHAR is 3-2-1 ATS in the last six meetings as the home team
* CHI has won four of the last six meetings SU as the road team
* Four of the last six meetings in Charlotte have gone UNDER the total
* CHI has had the shooting edge in six of the last seven meetings
* CHI has had the rebounding edge in the last six meetings
Chicago is still the worst-shooting team in the NBA, hitting only 41.7% of its shots. The Bulls are averaging 89.4 ppg on the road, and have pulled down 13.7 offensive rebounds and 43.6 total rebounds per contest. The team's collective assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.5. Also:
* CHI has won and covered five of its 15 road games
* CHI has played six of its last nine road games UNDER the total
* CHI is 3-7 ATS in its last 10 games
Charlotte has not excelled on defense, allowing 46.5% shooting to the opposition. Visitors have scored 96.4 ppg at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena. The 'Cats have won 10 of their 19 home games thus far. Also:
* CHAR has lost four of its last five games SU
* CHAR is 1-3 ATS in its last four games
* CHAR has covered four of its last 16 games
It is clear that the Bulls are looking like a different team already under new "interim" coach, Jim Boylan. Chicago beat Milwaukee, then blew out the Knicks, and even though they lost to Orlando (112-110) on Monday night, they took the NBA's best ATS road team to overtime and came out with the cover.
And one of Boylan's maneuvers is looking like a stroke of genius. He decided to start bringing Ben Gordon in off the bench, and the explosive guard responded with efforts of 31, 26 and 39 points. The Bulls are shooting a little bit better, and there is again some hope in the Windy City.
Back in December, Chicago scored 16 and nine-point wins over the Bobcats. I don't know - maybe it has something to do with a guy named Jordan running the show over there. I'm sure no messages ever got passed down from Jerry Reinsdorf.
Not sure if we can be completely convinced about the rebirth of the "new" Bulls, but they don't match up badly against this kind of opponent, which often suffers from lack of backcourt leadership. And Ben Wallace is not overmatched against Emeka Okafor.
We'll side with the Bulls in this pick'em game, as it is listed in the BetUS NBA basketball betting odds..
BetUS NBA betting odds: Pick'em, Total: 191.5
JAY'S PLAY: CHICAGO
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(Charles Jay of TotalActionExtra.com is a freelance writer and handicapper who not only can make his shots from the top of the key, but also contributes with gusto to the BetUS Locker Room)