NBA Betting: Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls visit Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night in a game that can be seen on NBA TV. It is a matchup between teams that have star players that are off to slow starts. Rose still isn’t 100% while Paul and the Clippers haven’t played that great in the early part of the season. Let’s look at Monday’s game and NBA predictions.
Rose Not at Full Strength but Bulls are Winning
Derrick Rose has not been at 100% yet this season but the Bulls won six of their first eight games. And Rose said he is getting closer.
“I think I’m close,” Rose said, “It’s just getting game-time reps. Everything you see that I’m doing now — adding the midrange, adding the floater — I’m missing them right now, but at least I’m getting up [those] shots.”
The Bulls have been averaging about 104 points per game while allowing 98 points per contest. The team went over the total in five of their first eight games this season.
Los Angeles Clippers a Pointspread Disaster
The Clippers have a high profile with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and they get a lot of love from the oddsmakers and the public. So far this season the Clippers are the most overrated team in the NBA. They went 4-3 in their first seven games but they were awful against the spread going 0-7. It is hard to lose every single game against the spread but that is what the Clippers did in their first seven games. The team is averaging about 101 points per game but also allowing 101 points per game.
Chris Paul is a great point guard and Blake Griffin is a good forward but neither player likes to play defense. And there is nothing special about the rest of the team although Jamal Crawford is a good player when coming off the bench. What has become obvious so far this season is that this Clippers team is not a serious contender to win the NBA title. They will need to make some roster adjustments and add a player or two before they can challenge top teams in the West.
Series Notes
The Los Angeles Clippers have won 7 of the last 10 meetings in this series. They won both meetings last season as they won 121-82 at home and 112-95 in Chicago. The Bulls have not won against the Clippers since 2011. The teams have split their last ten overall in L.A. with four of the last five going over the total.
NBA Predictions
We’ll look for the Bulls and Clippers to go over the total.
