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Wizards visit slumping Bulls on Wednesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 1/14/2015  at  6:21:00 AM
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WASHINGTON WIZARDS (26-12)

at CHICAGO BULLS (26-13)

Tip-off: Wednesday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Chicago -6, Total: 194

The Bulls look to snap out of their recent funk when they host the Wizards on Wednesday night.

The Wizards hosted the Spurs on Tuesday night and came away with a 101-93 victory. They’ve now won-and-covered in two of their last three, and have won four of their last five games SU. The Bulls, meanwhile, lost 121-114 as 11.5-point favorites against the Magic on Monday night. They’ve now lost three of their last four games SU, and are just 2-8 ATS in their last 10 contests. These two teams faced off on January 9th, when the Wizards beat the Bulls 102-86 as one-point home underdogs. The Wizards have won-and-covered in their last four games against the Bulls and four of their last six as well. They’ve also won-and-covered in their last four games in Chicago and they’ve also covered in seven straight there. Over the last two seasons, the Wizards are 40-24 ATS in road games. They are also 16-6 ATS after two straight games where their opponent was called for 18 or less fouls in that time. Chicago is 19-7 ATS revenging a loss versus an opponent of 10 points or more over the last two seasons. Mike Dunleavy (ankle) is expected to miss this game for the Bulls.

Can the Bulls pick up a crucial win on Wednesday night? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Forecaster has a strong 55% ATS record (98-80-1) in featured games this season. In terms of Best Bets, the experts have a stellar 73% ATS (33-12) record since Jan. 2, led by StatFox Scott, who is a sizzling 75% ATS (12-4) in Best Bets since Dec. 21, improving his record to 55% ATS (31-25) for the season. StatFox Brian is 65% ATS (22-12) in Best Bets since Nov. 29, and is now 57% ATS (32-24) in season Best Bets, while StatFox Gary is 7-2 ATS in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 1, and 57% ATS (32-24) this season.

The Wizards picked up a big win over the Spurs last game and John Wall (17.3 PPG, 10.2 APG, 4.3 RPG, 2.0 SPG) had a big night for Washington. He finished the game with 25 points and eight assists in 36 minutes of action and will need to be on his game against the Bulls. In their meeting two games ago, Wall had 16 points and 12 assists in the victory. He’ll need to use his quickness to get by Derrick Rose (17.0 PPG, 4.9 APG) and into the paint. Bradley Beal (15.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.1 APG) will also need to provide a spark for this team in this one. Beal had just 13 points and five rebounds against the Spurs, but he’ll be counted on to score more in this one. He will be up against a team that defends the perimeter very well and he’ll have to find a way to get himself going. Marcin Gortat (12.3 PPG, 8.1 RPG) will have to go up against Joakim Noah (7.8 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 1.5 BPG) in this game. Noah is one of the best defenders in basketball, but Gortat is a huge piece of the puzzle for Washington. They rely on him to get buckets inside and he was certainly able to do so in their last meeting with Chicago, when he finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds. If he can be anywhere near as effective, the Wizards should have a chance to steal this road victory.

The Bulls have really struggled lately and will be looking to turn things around with a win over the Wizards on Wednesday. Derrick Rose is dealing with a sore knee, but he did have 18 points and seven assists in a loss to the Magic on Monday. He had sat out the game before, but looked fine in that game and will now need to go right at John Wall on Wednesday. If he is not playing at his best, it’ll be very tough for the Bulls to win this game. One player who is playing at his very best is Pau Gasol (19.0 PPG, 11.4 RPG, 2.2 BPG). Gasol followed up a career high 46 points against the Bucks on Saturday with 28 points and 14 rebounds against the Magic on Monday. He’s now averaging 25.2 PPG and 13.0 RPG over the last five contests and should be able to keep up the excellent play against a Wizards team that is very beatable at the power forward position. Jimmy Butler (20.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 1.6 SPG) has not been scoring the ball as well as he was earlier in the season, and will need to turn it around for the Bulls. He’s averaging just 14.8 PPG over the last five contests and is doing so very inefficiently (33% FG, 36% 3PT). Joakim Noah must play better defense than he did the last time the Bulls face Washington. He was destroyed in the paint by Marcin Gortat, and that can’t happen again.


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