Portland Trail Blazers vs Chicago Bulls Predictions Nov 17

Portland Trail Blazers vs Chicago Bulls Betting Preview

WagerTalk NBA handicapper Andy Lang offers his Portland Trail Blazers vs Chicago Bulls betting preview for Wednesday, November 17. At the time of posting, the Blazers have opened as a 2-point home favorite over the visiting Bulls with the total sitting at 220.5 points.

Andy Lang LIVES and BREATHES player stats and data and there is a reason many people consider him WagerTalk’s prop king! Lock in ALL of his player and team props in the NBA for only $399 through the NBA FINALS in June 2022! Stay on top of the latest NBA updates direct from Las Vegas!

Portland Trail Blazers vs Chicago Bulls Predictions

• Portland Trail Blazers -2 vs Chicago Bulls
• Total: 220.5 Points
• Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan scored 73 points in the Bulls’ mini sweep over the Lakers and Clippers this weekend.
• The Blazers are 8-2 straight up and 7-3 against the spread in the last ten meetings between these teams.

The 7-8 Portland Trailblazers remain on their home court for a matchup with the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night. The Blazers sit at 9th place in the Western Conference after their 118-113 win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday. The Chicago Bulls come into town winners of two straight after beating both Los Angeles clubs and sit at 2-1 overall on this current 5 game road trip. The Bulls made quick work of the Lakers on Monday night with a 121-103 victory. Both teams will be playing their 3rd game in four nights.

While the Portland Trailblazers are 6-1 at home they have really yet to get their footing this season. Damien Lillard returned to lineup Monday and it’s a good thing for the Blazers because they probably would not have been able to beat Toronto without him. Lillard scored 24 points while shooting 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, which is much more efficient than he has been for most of this season. C.J. Mccollum still led the team with 29 points as he does most nights. Lillard’s shooting has been well below his career average as he’s shooting 39% from field compared to somewhere in the mid-forties and 28% from three point land compared to somewhere in the upper thirties. Portland is 4th in the league in rebounding and with Jusuf Nurkic they have an advantage down low as the Bulls are still without Nikola Vucevic. However, if the someone else like Normal Powell doesn’t step it up with scoring it could be a long night as there is only so much Mccollum can do.

The Bulls really enjoyed their trip to Los Angeles as they have many players with ties to the area including Demar Derozan, Zach Lavine and Lonzo Ball. All three players “balled out” with Derozan scoring 38, Ball scoring 27 and Lavine scoring 26. The Bulls have managed to keep to their winning ways without the services of Vucevic who remains on the Covid protocol list. You have to question if the Bulls could be gassed based on the amount of energy that went into their past two victories. However defense could prove to be the difference here as Chicago has the ability to clamp down on the perimeter which is the Blazers strength offensively. Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso both have the ability to force turnovers as Caruso is 2nd in the league with 35 steals even though he comes off the bench.

The Blazers have been dominant at home, however they are very reliant on both Lillard and Mccollum and if either one gets cold or gets shut down by the Bulls defense it could spell trouble. You also have to wonder if Chicago is tiring out during this west coast road swing. However this Bulls team is young and just built differently. I’m going to look at as the Bulls have momentum, the scorers to keep up and a far superior defense. The spread for this game is Blazers -2.5 with a total set 221.5. I’m going to be backing the Chicago Bulls +2.5 with a sprinkle on the money line. The money line should be set around +115, so maybe 25% of your bet making it so you still profit if the game is close and the Bulls fall by 1 or 2 points.

Official Play: Chicago Bulls +2.5 (With a sprinkle on the money line of +115 or so)

💰Interested in just focusing on a specific sport (or two…or three…) over the next month? All 30-Day single-sport passes are marked down to $99 through Sunday. Pick your ‘capper. Pick the sport you’re interested in. And play side-by-side for 30 days.
➡️https://t.co/COiDEBTy25 pic.twitter.com/iiQh65nE9S

— WagerTalk (@WagerTalk) November 15, 2021

Portland Trail Blazers vs Chicago Bulls Analysis from The GoldSheet

A month into the new season and the Bulls have already made them stop talking about the Bears and the Blackhawks in the Windy City. Thus far, Chicago has only lost to the Sixers (twice), Knicks when they were surging, and red-hot Warriors, which means they’ve lost fewer times than the aforementioned Bears despite playing nearly twice as many games. After the loss to the Warriors, the Bulls rolled thru LA when sweeping the Clips and Lakers, and were without Nikola Vucevic (health protocols) to boot, with Billy Donovan able to experiment successfully with small-ball combos in those thumping wins.

The good news this week for the Blazers is that Damian Lillard returned after a brief absence due to an abdominal strain, though it was more CJ McCollum’s doing in the Monday win vs. the Raps when he tossed in 29 points. But with the Bulls clicking on all cylinders, and the bench now augmented by ex-Tar Heel Coby (“I like to shoot the ball”) White’s recent reactivation, a pretty compelling case for Chicago can be constructed these days.

NBA Tip-Off Show

The Bulls went 2-1 in their trip through California over the weekend. Can Chicago keep up the hot start as they travel north to Portland? Join Joe, Tony, Andy and Kevin for the NBA Tip-Off Show at 4:15pm ET / 1:15pm PT as we discuss tonight’s marquee games, including this Portland Trail Blazers vs Chicago Bulls clash.

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 Wednesday’s NBA games, including this Portland Trail Blazers vs Chicago Bulls showdown, from your desktop or phone.

**************************************************

Looking for more free sports picks and sports betting tips?

• Latest Betting Odds and Public Action: Vegas lines updated in real time, including who the public is betting on.
• Last Minute Handicapping Advice: Check out our extensive library of handicapping tips and advice from professional Vegas handicappers (we also recommend taking the time to look over our sports betting tips video library)
• Want an expert opinion? Check out the latest Free Sports Picks and Best Bets from our team of expert sports handicappers.

Make sure to bookmark all the above!