Los Angeles Lakers - Chicago Bulls
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- Yes: 58.3%
- No: 0.0%
- No Opinions: 41.7%
- Voted: 24
Pick: Los Angeles Lakers (-5.5) @1.900 8/10 +7.20
It's not the prettiest handicap, but Lakers this season will be a potential 0.500 team at home, while Bulls will hardly reach 0.200. The only thing Bulls fan can enjoy is rookie Markkanen. Starters Lopez and Holiday can have some nice episodes, but despite that players are below league's average. 3 injured players: Lavine, Payne, Nwaba for a weak roster doesn't help either. Another player who had to be a starter, but unable to help the team - N. Mirotic. So far Bulls have 3w11l and all wins are against Eastern conference teams. Bulls are losing on a average margin of 11.9 points for teams that are above league's average defensive rating, for Top5 23,5.
You would not believe that, but Lakers are currently 4th on the defensive end, and they are sharing almost the same defensive rating with teams like: Spurs, Warriors or Thunder. Of course they are struggling offensively, but Bulls on the Last 5 games are 29th at defensive rating.
Kuzma, Ingram, Randle, Lopez, Clarkson - all are able to play 1vs1 and with so many talents they are miles ahead Bulls. L. Ball doesn't have a lot to offer on the offensive end, but his defense pays off: pbs.twimg.com/media/DPFV8U1VwAAhrNf.jpg (the higher, the better the defense). Apart L. Nance injury Lakers look healthy and if we will see 50% of what we saw against Denver this handicap should not be a problem
Interesting oppinions, Lakers can win this one for sure, line -5.5 makes no big difference, i guess if they win, they will win it by more than 5