NBA Toronto at Chicago
If ever a team was happy to be home it is the Chicago Bulls after a 3-4 road trip thru the western part of the United States
2007-02-13
If ever a team was happy to be home it is the Chicago Bulls after a 3-4 road trip thru the western part of the United States. At least the trip concluded on a positive note with a win Phoenix who was without Steve Nash and Boris Diaw. In the NBA road wins are hard to come by, thus you take them however you can. While the weather outside in Chi-town is less than ideal today, the opponent is no better , as the Bulls face one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto has been on the move with 12-3 record (10-4-1 ATS) and has taken command of the Atlantic Division. Chris Bosh is the acknowledged star of the franchise and is now receiving far better support from the rest of the cast. Rasho Nesterovic and Jorge Garbajosa are both hard working types not afraid to mix it up on the defensive end, where the real improvement has come for the Raptors. After being one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA the last several seasons, Toronto has moved up to 16th overall in points allowed at 98.3. Though the Raptors will not be confused with San Antonio on the defensive side of the floor, a marked improvement in this area had them fighting for a division title.
Chicago has two impressive feats going in their favor for this East showdown. The Bulls have earned the best home record in the conference at 20-6, which only trails Dallas in the entire league. Along with those moving numbers, they have the third best against the spread mark at 16-10. The other feat is one of the oddest in professional sports given the length of time. Chicago has beaten the purple dinosaurs 15 straight times, covering fourteen of them, with the streak starting on December 18, 2002. If that is not peculiar enough, prior to that Toronto had won 16 in a row over the Bulls.
Chicago enters the fray as a 4-point choice at Sportsbook.com with a total of 194. The Bulls are 19-9 ATS against Atlantic division opponents over the last two seasons and have been a sharp 20-7 ATS after scoring 100 points or more 2 straight games.
Besides having more revenge in their hearts then snow flakes flying around Chicago today, Toronto has done extremely well in these exact situations. They have excelled in the years second month again with a 12-2 ATS record in February games over the last two seasons. The Raptors are also 11-2 ATS revenging a loss vs. opponent of 10 points or more this season, though you can guess which team supplied one of the losses.
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