My main interest lies in the second of the two games tonight.
Bulls @ Suns
Stating the obvious but not much is going right for the Bulls at the moment. Starting the season 1-5 is bad enough and they start their first West coast trip of the season off the bacfk of a 30 point hiding by Raptors. There are so many deficiencies in this team right now: the lack of a scoring post position threat, their top 3 shooters Deng, Hinrich and Gordon suffering a case of the shooting funk and then of course the constant trade rumours which seemingly have the players distracted.
Therefore I am probably crazy when I say this spot tonight against the Suns is the perfect tonic to temporarily rectify aspects of the above.
- They are on the road, away from some of the distractions they faced at home and the pressure from their home fans. I can't imagine anything worse for the Bulls players to hear their own crowd chant for Kobe and booing them for their atrocious play at home.
- They matchup very well to this Suns team as shown last season because of their athleticism in the backcourt giving them just the drive to run 'n gun if need be and are a very good perimter shooting team as lets not forget this team was second in 3 point shooting last season (it's just a case of their shooters currently not hitting their shots at the moment)
- Deng, Hinrich and Gordon are all concurrently in shooting slumps but against a Suns team that we all know plays no defense and happy to open up the floor should provide all 3 ample opportunity to get their shooting mojos back. The opposition's best defender Bell should play tonight for the Suns but I suspect he may be a step short tonight as he is still recovering from a sprained right ankle. Consequently all 3 Bulls shooters should not be too restricted by any kind of perimter defense.
I never like fading my boys but tonight going to make an exception. Frankly it's not like the Suns have really set the league on fire as yet, a lot of their play has been lethargic especially on offense.
Bulls +8.5 over Suns (3)
Spurs @ Mavs
I have this agreement with my local. Whenever the Spurs are listed as dogs he pulls the trigger on my behalf. I'm always hesitant backing the Spurs before the All-Star break as historically they sleep walk their way through the early part of the season. However their start to this season shows me things may changed and there definitely does not appear to be any championship hangover. Spurs have been shooting the ball as well as they have ever been through the first 8 games and are stingy as ever defensively. Finley certainly needs to pick up his game but Manu's play has somewhat covered for him so far this season.
Whilst you could argue that on paper both these teams are quite evenly matched, especially considering the Mavs' stellar home record over the past couple of seasons how do you not take the best team in the league as dogs in this scenario? In any 50/50 game in any sport I'll always take the points. It's in the gambling 101 manual.
Spurs +2.5 over Mavs (2)
Bulls @ Suns
Stating the obvious but not much is going right for the Bulls at the moment. Starting the season 1-5 is bad enough and they start their first West coast trip of the season off the bacfk of a 30 point hiding by Raptors. There are so many deficiencies in this team right now: the lack of a scoring post position threat, their top 3 shooters Deng, Hinrich and Gordon suffering a case of the shooting funk and then of course the constant trade rumours which seemingly have the players distracted.
Therefore I am probably crazy when I say this spot tonight against the Suns is the perfect tonic to temporarily rectify aspects of the above.
- They are on the road, away from some of the distractions they faced at home and the pressure from their home fans. I can't imagine anything worse for the Bulls players to hear their own crowd chant for Kobe and booing them for their atrocious play at home.
- They matchup very well to this Suns team as shown last season because of their athleticism in the backcourt giving them just the drive to run 'n gun if need be and are a very good perimter shooting team as lets not forget this team was second in 3 point shooting last season (it's just a case of their shooters currently not hitting their shots at the moment)
- Deng, Hinrich and Gordon are all concurrently in shooting slumps but against a Suns team that we all know plays no defense and happy to open up the floor should provide all 3 ample opportunity to get their shooting mojos back. The opposition's best defender Bell should play tonight for the Suns but I suspect he may be a step short tonight as he is still recovering from a sprained right ankle. Consequently all 3 Bulls shooters should not be too restricted by any kind of perimter defense.
I never like fading my boys but tonight going to make an exception. Frankly it's not like the Suns have really set the league on fire as yet, a lot of their play has been lethargic especially on offense.
Bulls +8.5 over Suns (3)
Spurs @ Mavs
I have this agreement with my local. Whenever the Spurs are listed as dogs he pulls the trigger on my behalf. I'm always hesitant backing the Spurs before the All-Star break as historically they sleep walk their way through the early part of the season. However their start to this season shows me things may changed and there definitely does not appear to be any championship hangover. Spurs have been shooting the ball as well as they have ever been through the first 8 games and are stingy as ever defensively. Finley certainly needs to pick up his game but Manu's play has somewhat covered for him so far this season.
Whilst you could argue that on paper both these teams are quite evenly matched, especially considering the Mavs' stellar home record over the past couple of seasons how do you not take the best team in the league as dogs in this scenario? In any 50/50 game in any sport I'll always take the points. It's in the gambling 101 manual.
Spurs +2.5 over Mavs (2)
