Posted on
12/31/2007 4:15:18 PM
NBA Basketball Betting – Orlando at Chicago
By Charles Jay
BetUS NBA basketball betting odds: ORLANDO -4, Total: 198.5
The Chicago Bulls (11-17 SU, 9-19 ATS), now on a two-game winning streak, will play host to the Orlando Magic (21-11 SU, 23-9 ATS), the leaders in the NBA's Southeast Division, in a special New Year's Eve matinee game at the United Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 PM ET.
In the BetUS NBA basketball betting odds, the Magic is listed at -4, with the total at 198.5 points.
In the HEAD-to-HEAD NBA basketball betting trends:
* CHI has won and covered 10 of the last 14 meetings
* Four of the last six meeting shave gone OVER the total
* Eight of the last nine meetings at Chicago have gone UNDER the total
* The road team have covered five of the last six meetings
Despite having the league's top rebounder, Orlando has only registered 9.8 offensive rebounds per game this season. They do hit nine 3-pointers per game and have shot 46% as a team. Jameer Nelson, part of their guard rotation along with Keith Bogans and Keyon Dooling, is listed as day-to-day with a back injury. Also:
* ORL has covered 18 of its last 25 games
* ORL is 16-3 ATS on the road
* ORL is 14-5 SU on the road
* ORL has won and covered three straight games
Chicago is shooting 41.6% from the field. That's the lowest figure in the NBA. The Bulls average 13.5 offensive rebounds per game, and that is in large part to the number of shots they have missed. They are averaging 95.4 points per game at home, which is 25th in the NBA. Also:
* CHI is 6-7 SU at home
* CHI is 4-9 ATS at home
* CHI has covered one of its last five games
* CHI has covered one of its last seven home games
* CHI has played four of its last five home games OVER the total
Jim Boylan is now 2-0 as the new Chicago Bulls coach. Has he caught lightning in a bottle? His signature move thus far, which is to bring Ben Gordon off the bench as the sixth man, has paid big dividends, as the former U-Conn star scored 31 points against Milwaukee and 25 against New York on Sunday. Chicago hit 50% of its shots in that 100-83 romp, in which it got off to an eight-point first quarter lead and nailed 10 of its 22 shots from three-point range.
But it must be noted that Boylan's first win, against the Bucks, was not a cover, and these are not the underachieving Knicks they are facing today, but a Magic team that is on a three-game winning streak of its own, getting out of some recent doldrums, and is the NBA's best pointspread team on the road, covering 16 out of 19 games. Dwight Howard is averaging 15.3 rebounds per game - 16.8 over the last four contests - and so, matched up against Ben wallace, who's having an off year, he will help Orlando control the boards in case the Bulls revert back to the form they have displayed for most of the season.
We are going to lay the points with Orlando, the four-point favorite in the BetUS NBA betting odds, against a Bulls team that is coming back to play a day game after yesterday's big victory.
JAY'S PLAY: ORLANDO
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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)