Chicago +11 over PORTLAND
The Portland Trail Blazers will have star forward Rasheed Wallace back on the floor tonight when they host the Chicago Bulls, who continue a five-game road trip at the Rose Garden. Portland won five of its seven games without Wallace but suffered a 95-71 loss to the Utah Jazz in the final game of his suspension on Wednesday. Chicago opened its road trip with a hard-fought 77-75 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
Chicago has lost two straight road games since winning in Orlando on January 20 and is a league-worst 2-21 on the road this season; however, they have been competitive away from the Windy City as of late, covering the spread in each of their last 5 road games. The Bulls are also expecting the return of a key player as rookie Jay Williams should return to the lineup after missing five games with a sprained ankle. We are looking for Chicago again to give the Blazers a good game here, as they snapped a seven-game losing streak to Portland with a 102-87 victory at the United Center on December 31. They are now 5-1 ATS in their last 6 meetings with the Trail Blazers and have covered the number in their last 4 visits to the Rose City. The Bulls are a strong 11-3 ATS as a double-digit road dog off a road SU loss/ATS win, and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as an underdog off a SU loss.
After playing quite well without Wallace, it may take the team a quarter or a half to re-adjust to having him on the floor, which should aide Chicago in keeping this one respectable. Portland is a dismal 0-11 ATS at home off a loss in which they failed to score 80 points, 1-7 ATS at home off a road loss in which they failed to hit 40% of their shots, and 0-4-1 ATS in their last 5 opportunities to get revenge at home for a road loss. We certainly expect the Blazers to put forth enough effort to come away with a SU victory, but not enough to win by double digits.
PROJECTED FINAL SCORE: PORTLAND 98 CHICAGO 91