Game Time: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, January 24th, 2022 

Venue:  Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread: NL

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread: NL

WynnBet: Spread:  NL

Bulls: 28-16, 2nd place Eastern Conference

Thunder: 14-32, 14th place Western Conference

A non-conference matchup between an Eastern Conference Beast and a Western Conference pushover.  The Western Conference is the better conference.  The 4 teams at the top are cruising along above 30 wins… they are beating everybody seemingly everywhere.  The Phoenix Suns, the Golden State Warriors, the Memphis Grizzlies, and even the Utah Jazz… are killin’ the game.  The East doesn’t have a single team above 30 wins on the season so far.  The Brooklyn Nets, the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat, and the Milwaukee Bucks aren’t quite as dominant, even though they are teams loaded with talent and past MVP candidates and winners. The takeaway is the West is currently grooming this year’s champion.  All of that goes out the window when the Bulls play the Thunder… The Thunder are a team that does not expect to win games.  They are developing a couple of young players (Josh Giddey, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and have stacked a war chest full of draft picks to put more young stars around those guys.  

The Bulls need a game against a team like the Thunder.  They have had a hard few weeks.  Earlier this month their star SG Zach LaVine was put on the IR to rest left knee soreness and will miss 2-4 weeks.  After that the Bulls' new and positively surprising addition, PG Lonzo Ball, had to undergo surgery to repair a small meniscus tear in his left knee… he will miss six to eight weeks!  Suddenly the loaded and deadly Chicago Bulls started losing games and fell out of 1sy place in the Eastern Conference.  In fact they have only won 4 of their last ten games.  The last game they played was a 94-90 loss against the Milwaukee Bucks who are very close to overtaking them in the standing.  To make matters worse SG Alex Caruso was about to come back from left wrist soreness before being diagnosed with a fracture in his left wrist… he will be out until mid-late March.  That leaves SF DeMar DeRozan and C Nikola Vucevic to lead an undermanned team hopefully to a drop of no further than 4th place.  SG Coby White, the 7th overall pick in the 2019 draft is now firmly in the spotlight.  No coming off the bench… time to man up!

The Oklahoma City Thunder have lost their last 5-games straight…. In fact they only have 1 win in their last ten games.  They are a sneaky good betting opportunity though since over that same ten-game stretch they are 6-3-1 ATS.  They are proof that you should not bet against a very big spread in the NBA… losing teams get baskets also. A big spread should scare you off of any bet in the NBA except against the Detroit Pistons who stink all around.  To illustrate this if you had bet $1000 on the Thunder to win in every game they have played so far… you would have a 29-16-1 ATS record even though the Thunder have only won 14 games.  You would be up $11,700 after the vig… betting on one of the absolute worst teams in the NBA who will not make the playoffs and may not get 25 wins on the entire season.  The Thunder are led by Point Guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who scores 22.8 ppg.  They are excited about the continued development of SG Josh Giddey, who leads the team in Assists and Rebounds and is big for a guard of either spot.  The heart of this team is SF Luguentz Dort… a Canadian kid that was an undrafted free agent.  In his short time in the league he is proving that a less talented guy can find a spot if he hustles and loves the game.  Dort will do the hard work of playing defense and never giving up… he is also playing out of position as he is undersized to be a SF and most likely should be a bench player at the SG spot on a good team.  Dort’s 16 ppg and hustle is most likely why the Thunder cover spreads.

9-0 / 100% PERFECT RUN with Hoops DOMINATORS! Going for 7 IN A ROW! Also its 7 STRAIGHT WINNING DAYS after Friday's 3-1 makes him 26-12 / 68% L7 days! PHENOMENAL Top Play OPPORTUNITY! His Totals across all sports are now 36-14 / 72% in 2022 and this is HOT TOTAL that DEMANDS his HIGHEST rating! NBA off loss but 13-6 in 2022! This seeks 10 IN A ROW! Go get it! Get Scott Rickenbach’s picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB, college football… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

The Bulls are 28-16 on the season, but 26-18 ATS.  They have logged 22 Overs, 21 Unders, and 1 Push.  (they have an Orlando Magic game between now and the Thunder game on Monday… these numbers will be 1 off most likely in the win column.)

The Oklahoma City Thunder are 14-32 on the season, but 29-16-1 ATS.  They have notched 18 Overs and 28 Unders.  They are 8-14 at home.

The Bulls are 9th in scoring with 110.7 ppg, 29th in rebounds with 42.6 per game, and 8th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8. They are shooting the lights out.  4th in FG%, 1st in 3PT%, and 3rd in FT%.  The defense is ranked 15th in the league while allowing 108.5 ppg from opponents.

The Thunder are 30th in scoring with 100.3 ppg, 8th in rebounds with 45.8 per game, and 27th in AST/TO ratio with 1.6. They simply can’t shoot the ball well, in fact they wouldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat.  They are 30th in FG%, 30th in 3Pt%, and 19th in FT%.  The defense is why I harp on Luguentz Dort and his hustle and effort.  This terrible team is ranked 13th in the league on defense while allowing 107.8 ppg from opponents.  It’s still losing basketball… but it is something to hang their hat on as they keep building this team.

 

Our prediction for Monday, January 24th is…. Bulls: 113 - Thunder 106

The Bulls will win this game and should win by 7 points.  The spread is not out yet but the prediction is what you can go by.  If the spread gives the Thunder 7.5 points or larger to put in your back pocket… Recent betting history tells us you have to bet on the Thunder.  If the Sportsbooks have caught oon and set this at 2-6 in favor of the Bulls… take the Bulls.

Don't miss our champion handicappers' Free NBA Picks and Premium Selections every day here at Bigal.com. Just click on Shop Picks for our Best Bets, or click on Shop Subscriptions to

join for a week or a month. And if you enjoyed this Bulls/Thunder Preview, be sure to bookmark Bigal.com for our daily Game Previews and Predictions.  Get help with all your college football picks, National Football league, NCAA brackets, or any prop bets on your season schedule. 

Bulls: SG Alex Caruso (wrist) Out ** SG Zach LaVine (knee) Out ** PG Lonzo Ball (knee) Out ** SF Derrick Jones Jr (knee) Out ** Sf Patrick Williams (wrist) Out

Thunder: PG Vic Krejci (ankle) Out

Bulls: SF DeMar DeRozan, PF Tyler Cook, C Nikola Vucevic, SG Coby White, PG Ayoo Dosunmu 

 

Thunder: SF Luguentz Dort, PF Darius Bazley, C Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, SG Josh Giddey

Bulls

Points: DeMar DeRozan 26

Assists: Lonzo Ball 5.1

Rebounds: Nikola Vucevic 11.1

Steals: Alex Caruso 1.9

Blocks: Nikola Vucevic 1.2

Thunder

Points: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 22.8

Assists: Josh Giddey 6.2

Rebounds: Josh Giddey 7.4

Steals: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Blocks: Darius Bazley 1.2

Thunder: Mark Daigenault

Bulls: Billy Donovan