Phoenix Suns vs Chicago Bulls betting tips and predictions for Friday’s NBA game on NBA TV. It’s a big test of character for the Chicago Bulls tonight as they travel to Phoenix to take on the West leading Suns in the 2nd and final meeting of the regular season. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
- Start date: 18.03.2022 at 10:00 PM
- Location: Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Suns
The Suns are now used to life without Chris Paul and they are doing just fine after winning their 4th game in 5 outings without him. Their latest win came against the Houston Rockets 129-112 on the road and although that isn’t something worth bragging about, the Suns will take it as it keeps quite a lot of doubters who are saying they are in trouble without their leading point-guard.
Devin Booker had another spectacular performance with 36 points, while 3 other starters scored 20 or more in what was a total team effort. Phoenix ended the game shooting almost 56% from the field and 40% from three, a performance like that tonight will almost certainly guarantee them a win.
They already beat the Bulls once this season 127-124 back in early February, Booker also had a solid night then with 38 points.
Chicago Bulls
Chicago had 2 players scoring 30 or more in that game with DeMar DeRozan dropping 38 and Zach LaVine adding 32 of his own, including 4 threes made. Both of them are healthy and good to go for tonight, however it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for this Bulls team lately as they’ve lost 2 in a row and 7 of their last 9 which has dropped them to 5th in the Eastern Conference.
One stat that immediately caught my eye is that the Bulls are just 2-16 SU vs teams with a better record than them this season, so essentially this team is beating the weaker teams on a regular basis while getting beat by top tier squads such as Phoenix.
They’ve covered the spread just once in 9 games and are 0-6 ATS in 6 straight on the road. One glimmer of hope here is their head-to-head record when on the road in Phoenix – they’ve gone 9-2 ATS in their last 11 such games.
It’s hard to justify backing the Bulls here, they’ve really struggled lately and have been terrible vs the good teams this season. Phoenix, on the other hand, hasn’t missed a beat without their best player and I think they get the job done at home here. Back the home team to cover.
Phoenix Suns vs Chicago Bulls Tip & Odds
The oddsmakers have been very generous with setting the projected total to 230 points here. The first meeting of the season played in Chicago ended with 251 points scored and the 3 most recent meetings have averaged 230.3 points per game with the over cashing on two occasions.
Chicago has tried playing better defence lately but to no avail, as they’ve allowed 120 or more points in 2 of their last 5 games, a Phoenix team that is averaging 133.3 points per game over their last 3 games (highest amount in the NBA) should have no problems getting to at least 120 here. The Suns haven’t shown signs of slowing down without CP3, they occupy 10th place when it comes to pace of play averaging 101.1 possessions per game.
They are among the 3 best teams when it comes to offensive efficiency scoring 112.7 points per 100 possessions, while the Bulls rank only 2 spots below them with 111.2 points. Add all those reasons up and you get yourself a high scoring game, so let’s back the points in this one.
