{"id":11485,"date":"2010-12-13T12:01:44","date_gmt":"2010-12-13T17:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=11485"},"modified":"2010-12-13T12:01:44","modified_gmt":"2010-12-13T17:01:44","slug":"indiana-pacers-at-chicago-bulls-nba-betting-predictions-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/indiana-pacers-at-chicago-bulls-nba-betting-predictions-preview-11485\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Pacers at Chicago Bulls NBA Betting Predictions & Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indiana Pacers at Chicago Bulls
\nMonday, 12\/13\/10, 8:00 PM EDT, TV:\u00a0 NBATV
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Chicago -8
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Chicago -8
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 190.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 191.5<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Chicago Bulls have won five straight games and are eight-point home favorites against the Indiana Pacers tonight at the United Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indiana had its record drop to an even 11-11 on the season with a 97-83 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, which happened to be the team\u2019s eighth consecutive defeat in the series.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re just a very athletic team that has our number right now,\u201d said point guard T.J. Ford.\u00a0 \u201cTheir athleticism and quickness gets the best of us every time.\u201d\u00a0 The Pacers came into the contest averaging 52.6 points in the first half this season, but managed to score just 35 before the break.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a credit to their defense,\u201d coach Jim O\u2019Brien stated.\u00a0 \u201cThey really defended us well.\u201d\u00a0 The squad is 7-5 against Eastern Conference opponents this year, including a 3-3 mark on the road.\u00a0 Indiana is 12-9 ATS on the season and is currently a road underdog on the NBA lines page.<\/p>\n

The Pacers defense has been the main storyline for the club this season, holding opponents to 96.2 points per game in their last 21 contests.\u00a0 In their last eight wins, Indiana has held opponents to 89.1 points and 40.0 percent shooting.\u00a0 That will be a tough task against tonight\u2019s foe, who is averaging 103.4 points at home compared to 96.7 on the road.\u00a0 Offensively, the squad will need a big night from forward Danny Granger to pull off the upset, as he has averaged 28.0 points in his last five games against the Bulls.\u00a0 He is listed questionable with an ankle injury tonight and is coming off a 3-for-14 shooting performance last time out.<\/p>\n

Chicago avoided a letdown with a 113-82 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday for its fifth consecutive win, which followed an emotional contest against the Los Angeles Lakers.\u00a0 \u201cWe want to have the right habits and be ready for any opponent,\u201d said coach Tom Thibodeau.\u00a0 \u201cYou want to be consistent in your approach whether you\u2019re playing a defending champion or a rebuilding team.\u201d\u00a0 Point guard Derrick Rose has exemplified this approach all season long, averaging a team-high 25.1 points and 8.1 assists per game.\u00a0 He has also scored 24.6 points on 55.4 percent shooting in the last five meetings with the Pacers.\u00a0 Chicago is 13-9 ATS on the season.<\/p>\n

The Bulls lead the all-time series with the Pacers 81-72 and are 54-21 against Indiana in the Windy City.\u00a0 Since the 2003-04 season, Chicago has gone 11-3 against the Pacers at the United Center.\u00a0 Rose has carried the load offensively, averaging 24.8 points and 6.3 assists last year in the series.\u00a0 The team is six games over .500 for the firs time since ending the the 2006-07 campaign with a 49-33 record.\u00a0 A key for tonight\u2019s game is holding the Pacers under the century mark, as the squad is 12-3 on the season when accomplishing the feat, while posting a 2-5 mark when allowing more than 100 points.<\/p>\n

Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Pacers are 8-1-1 ATS versus the Central Division, while the Bulls are 21-10-1 ATS in the same situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indiana Pacers at Chicago Bulls Monday, 12\/13\/10, 8:00 PM EDT, TV:\u00a0 NBATV Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Chicago -8 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Chicago -8 Opening Total:\u00a0 190.5 Current Total:\u00a0 191.5 Indiana had its record drop to an even 11-11 on the season with a 97-83 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, which happened to be the team\u2019s eighth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":8683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[174,566,521,3622,565,3674],"class_list":["post-11485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-danny-granger","tag-derrick-rose","tag-eastern-conference","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-united-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11486,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11485\/revisions\/11486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}