Portland Trail Blazers vs. Chicago Bulls Free NBA Pick

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Portland’s rapidly fading hopes to make the playoffs in the Western Conference took another hit on Tuesday night with a 102-95 loss to Milwaukee as a 5.5-point road underdog. This followed a 101-100 defeat at the hands of lowly Philadelphia as a one-point underdog on the road this past Monday. The Trail Blazers are now a woeful 9-25 straight-up on the road this season and a costly 13-20-1 against the spread. The total stayed UNDER the 207-point line against the Bucks after going over in their last four games.

The Trail Blazers rank 13th in the NBA in scoring with an average of 98.3 points a game behind LaMarcus Aldridge’s team-high 21.1 points a game, but they are allowing the same amount of points on defense. Aldridge could be slowed a bit on Thursday night with a sore knee, but he remains listed as probable on the latest injury report.

The Bulls need to start stringing together some wins of their own to stay in the hunt for one of the top four seeds in the East. They are 36-30 SU overall, but just 4-6 in their last 10 games. Chicago has failed to cover the spread in four of its last six games and the total has gone OVER in the last three.

One of the Bulls’ main problems this season has been the inability to fully capitalize on their home court advantage. They are 18-15 SU this season, while posting the identical record on the road. It has been expensive wagering on Chicago this season at the United Center with a 10-23 record ATS. With Derrick Rose still struggling to get back into the starting lineup and Kirk Hinrich still out with a sore foot, look for the Bulls to once again rely heavily on a shutdown defense that is holding teams to just 92.3 points a game.

Prediction

Neither team comes into this matchup in solid form, but Chicago clearly remains the better team especially with Portland playing on the road. The Bulls need every win they can get and finally play to their capabilities to notch a victory that covers the five-point spread.

Chicago 93 Portland 86