NBA: Utah Jazz vs. Chicago Bulls Preview, Odds, Prediction

The new Chicago Bulls could be a problem for anyone, and their biggest test so far will be against the Utah Jazz this Saturday night. Billy Donovan tightened up things in the Windy City, and the Bulls are looking pretty respectable at his moment. Even though they didn’t have strong opponents in the opening five games, their improvement has to be acknowledged. On the other side, the Jazz are pounding hard right from the start and are without a loss in the opening four events. Quin Snyder’s side didn’t lose the pace from the previous year and is apparently one of the biggest title contenders in the 2021/22 campaign.

Preview

Utah Jazz (4-0, -190) won four in a row, subsequently at home and on the road. Their first win was against OKC Thunder, 107-86, then in Sacramento, 110-101, and after that at home vs. Denver Nuggets 122-110. The most recent affair was in Houston against the Rockets, whom Utah pretty easily won, 122-91.

In all three games, the Jazz scored 107 or more points, and in the latest pair, exactly 122 buckets. As you can see, they are still very potent in the offense with several players who are able to score 20 or more points and with lots of actions and a very colorful playbook.

Four players average 17 or more points. Donovan Mitchell is the most efficient one with 20 points, while Rudy Gobert comes second with 18 but with tremendous 17.8 rebounds posted. The Croatian sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic scores 17.3 points, and Jordan Clarkson coming off the bench 17.

Chicago Bulls (4-1, +160) suffered its first defeat against New York Knicks at home, 104-103 in their last match. Previously, they had four straight wins, two against Detroit Pistons and one against the Pelicans and the Raptors. Not some challenging teams, but still, four wins in a row need to be respected.

These new Bulls have quite the potential. With Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan added to the team, we should see them in the playoffs. Alex Caruso is there as well, and a couple of youngsters who might be a pleasant surprise in the future.

Zach LaVine is the biggest star of the team and the top scorer with 25.4 points and 5.4 baords. DeMar DeRozan has 22 each night, and Nikola Vucevic posts a double-double with 15.8 points and 10.8 boards. For now, Ball is mediocre with 12.6 points and 5 assists with almost sic boards, but his all-around presence is felt, as he also has 1.6 blocks and steals each night.

Head to Head Games

We all remember the NBA Finals from 97 and 98, but that is long gone. Both series were memorable, and in both the team from Chicago won. The Jazz and the Bulls played two games last year, and the Jazz won in both of them. The first in Chicago was 120-95 and the second in Salt Lake 113-106.

Prediction

Even though they lost against the Knicks, the Bulls showed a lot of qualities in that game. This isn’t the team from the previous year that had talent but wasn’t competitive. The spread on them against the Jazz is +4 and we intend to bet on the hots to defend that gap, with the odds -110 on that.

Pick: Chicago Bulls +4 -110