Knicks vs Bulls Picks, Predictions and Odds Dec 2
NY Knicks vs Chicago Bulls Betting Preview
WagerTalk NBA handicapper Andy Lang offers his Knicks vs Bulls betting preview for Thursday, December 2. At the time of posting, Chicago has opened as a 2-point road favorite at Madison Square Garden, with the total sitting at 209.5 points.
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Knicks vs Bulls Predictions
- Chicago Bulls -2 at New York Knicks
- Total: 209.5 Points
- The Knicks are 9-2 in the last 11 meetings between these two teams at Madison Square Garden, covering the spread in each of the last five.
The 14-8 Chicago Bulls make a short trip to Madison Square Garden for an Eastern Conference showdown with the 11-10 New York Knicks on Thursday night. The Bulls are coming off one of their best games of the season in a 133-119 drubbing of the Charlotte Hornets at home. Meanwhile the Knicks fell short 112-110 at home against the Brooklyn Nets.
This season these teams split two meetings that were both played in Chicago, as the Knicks won 104-103 on October 28th while the Bulls countered with a 109-103 victory on November 21st.
The Chicago Bulls are in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference sitting only 1.5 games behind the Brooklyn Nets. Impressively, the Bulls rank top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating thru the first 22 games of the season. Their revamped roster has done wonders on the offensive end as they are 12th in scoring with an average of 109.1 points per contest.
DeMar DeRozen has been an amazing addition as he averages 25.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists a game. Zach Lavine is right behind him in scoring with 25.3 points a game, while Nikola Vucevic leads the team with an average of 11.2 rebounds a game.
The Bulls defense has also improved as they rank 8th allowing an average of only 104.6 points a game. Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso put immense pressure on opposing perimeter players and force turnovers. Incredibly Caruso leads the league in average steals with 2.2 a game, even while coming off the bench. The Chicago Bulls are without a doubt one of the most complete teams in the game and will be a contender as long as they remain healthy.
The New York Knicks currently sit one game back of the Charlotte Hornets for the final guaranteed playoff spot, at this point they would be a play-in team. It’s obvious that head coach Tom Thibodeau isn’t happy with how his team is performing so far this season. Thibodeau pulled Kemba Walker from the rotation and started Alec Burks at point guard. Burks scored a season high 25 points in his new role, but the Knicks still fell short against Brooklyn.
The Knicks could be without R.J. Barrett on Thursday night as he remains questionable after leaving his last game with a non Covid related illness. On the year, New York is 19th in scoring offense and 17 in scoring defense. The Knicks have went 6-9 after starting the season 5-1, so they will be looking to right the ship Thursday night in the Big Apple.
Both teams against the spread records are similar to their straight up records as the Bulls 14-8 ATS and the Knicks are 10-11 ATS. The Bulls are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games against the Knicks and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games at MSG. The Bulls are road favorites in this one, with a spread of -2 and a total set at 214. Both teams play towards the under as the Bulls are 10-12 ATS over/under while the Knicks are 8-13 ATS over/under.
The Bulls have played high level defense and Thibodeau typically enjoys a grind it out style of basketball. Looking at how similar the first two head-to-head meetings played out, they combined for 207 & 212 points. The Bulls have done an amazing job shutting down opposing shooting guards as they allow the 3rd least points per game against them.
Now that Alec Burks is starting his minutes and shots are way up. Evan Fournier’s minutes are down and he only scored 3 & 10 points against Chicago in their first two meetings. We are going to take Fournier under 13.5 points for our player prop. The only way he goes over is if he’s hot from three. We will trust in that Bulls perimeter defense and a low scoring game.
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Knicks vs Bulls Analysis from The GoldSheet
New York coming off a galling 112-110 loss at Brooklyn on Tuesday night, as Julius Randle is still smokin’ hot over not getting to the line in crunch time (yes, he was fouled). On the upside, it was the Knicks’ 3rd cover in their last 4 games, and they might get a break from the referees tonight after all the kerfuffle Thibs and Randle went through in the postgame interviews.
Chicago has been in a small dip, losing 3 of its last 5 SU and against the points, although the Bulls’ numbers appear a bit better than the end results in that period. Chicago has outscored the opponents 110-108 on average in those games, out shooting foes 49%-45% as well as holding a fractional edge on the boards, ranking 9th in net efficiency.
These teams have split the first 2 meetings this season, both of which were played in Chicago. New York has held sway in the Garden when the Bulls have visited in recent seasons, winning and covering 5 straight and compiling a 9-2 SU and spread mark at MSG against the Bulls since the 2015-16 season. Knicks take out some frustrations on Chicago side they’ve handled at this venue.
Thursday’s NBA Stat Sheet
Each day, WagerTalk handicapper Ralph Michaels puts together his NBA Stat Sheet, which offers a head-to-head comparison for how teams are performing in a number of key areas heading into a game. Click here to download Thursday’s sheet, with notes on tonight’s Knicks vs Bulls contest.
NBA Tip-Off Show
Join Joe Raineri, Rob Veno, Skee Profit and Teddy Covers for the NBA Tip-Off Show at 4:15pm ET / 1:15pm PT as we discuss tonight’s marquee games. Stay up-to-date on the latest NBA news, stats, analysis, and predictions with our panel of professional handicappers as they preview tonight’s NBA action, including this Knicks vs Bulls clash, from a betting perspective.
WagerTalk Live Odds Screen
WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the NBA point spreads, moneylines, first half lines and betting percentages for all of Thursday’s NBA games, including this Knicks vs Bulls showdown, from your desktop or phone.
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