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Blazers try to cool down Bulls on Friday night
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 3/28/2014  at  2:32:00 AM
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PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (46-27)

at CHICAGO BULLS (40-31)

Tip-off: Friday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Chicago -5, Total: 189

The Bulls look for their third straight victory when they host the Trail Blazers on Friday night.

Portland is coming off of a 100-85 road victory over the Hawks on Thursday which snapped a three-game losing skid (1-2 ATS) and marked its first 100-point scoring game in three contests as well. Chicago defeated Indiana 89-77 at home in their most recent game on Monday for its second straight win and fifth in the past seven games (2-5 ATS). These two teams met in Portland on Nov. 22 when the Blazers defeated the Bulls 98-95 as four-point favorites. Portland has won five straight games SU in this series and covered in four in a row before failing to cover in the most recent matchup. Since 1996, the Blazers are 20-4 ATS when playing their fourth road game in five days. They are, however, 0-6 ATS this season after leading in their previous game by 15 or more points at the half. Chicago is 11-3 ATS over the past three seasons after scoring 35 points or less in the first half of their previous game. PF LaMarcus Aldridge (back/hip) will play in this game after returning in the Blazers win over the Hawks, and he represents the only notable injury for either team.

Can the Bulls stay hot with a convincing win on Friday night? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2012-13 season. StatFox Dave has a strong 56% ATS (45-36-1) Best Bets record since Dec. 1, while StatFox Brian remains hot, going 57% ATS (25-19-1) since Jan. 25. StatFox Gary is also heating up with a 59% ATS mark (16-11) since Feb. 13, while StatFox Zach is a stellar 69% ATS (9-4) since March 9.

The Trail Blazers broke out of their recent offensive slump with the return of PF LaMarcus Aldridge (23.4 PPG, 11.1 RPG) to the lineup. Aldridge had been dealing with a bad back, but returned to play 32 minutes against the Hawks and finished with 25 points and 16 rebounds. PG Damian Lillard (21.1 PPG, 5.5 APG) finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds and four assists. Lillard and Aldridge will really need to bring their "A" games to Chicago on Friday. The duo combined for just 32 points (10-of-34 FG, 29%) in the last game, but that will not work out as well if it happens again. SG Wes Matthews (16.5 PPG, 3.6 RPG) ended up bailing out the Blazers in that contest. He finished with 28 points (12-of-19 FG, 4-of-8 threes) the last time they played the Bulls and he is averaging 17.4 PPG over the past five games. One player who will be extremely important for the Blazers if they want to win this game is C Robin Lopez (10.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.7 BPG). Lopez will be matched up with Joakim Noah throughout the game and his play on both sides of the ball will be crucial for Portland.

The Bulls have been one of the best teams in the NBA in the second half of the season and that is due to the play of C Joakim Noah (12.4 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.6 BPG). Noah had 10 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three blocks in the Bulls' victory over the Pacers on Monday. Noah does whatever his team needs for them to pick up a win on that given night. He did, however, struggle against the Blazers early in the season when he finished with just seven points in 27 minutes. PF Carlos Boozer (13.8 PPG, 8.4 RPG) had 16 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes in that meeting. He will need to make LaMarcus Aldridge work on defense in order to tire him out as much as possible. If Boozer isn’t playing well, the Bulls will turn to PF Taj Gibson (13.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG) who is averaging 19.5 PPG and 9.0 RPG over the past two contests. Gibson is one of the best defensive forwards in the league and his athleticism is a huge spark for this team. PG D.J. Augustin (12.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG) had just four points in the last game, but his speed and ability to get into the paint should help the Bulls in this one as they did not have a point guard nearly as good as Augustin in the first loss to the Blazers this season.


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