Bulls continue long trip in Milwaukee

Basketball Betting Lines

02/04/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls are in the midst of a nine-game road trip and will continue the lengthy trek tonight against the Central Division-rival Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center.

The Bulls improved to 2-2 thus far on the road swing following Thursday's 105-102 victory over the New York Knicks behind Derrick Rose, who scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and added 13 assists and four rebounds. Rose was held to 18 points in a loss at Philadelphia the night before and has now scored 30-plus points in four of his last five games, averaging 30.6 ppg in that stretch. He had a season-best 35 points against Washington on Monday.

"I think the good teams in this league find ways to win games. Most nights if you can be consistent with your defense it gives you a chance to win if you are not shooting well. We were fortunate tonight because we were able to score. We have to continue to improve our defense," Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver scored 16 points apiece, while C.J. Watson finished with 12 points and Joakim Noah added 10 and nine rebounds for Central Division-leading Chicago, which improved to 10-5 as the guest and won for the 12th time in its last 16 tries. The Bulls shot 52.7 percent for the game and were without forward Luol Deng (wrist) and guard Richard Hamilton (groin/thigh). Both players are day-to-day.

Chicago leads the NBA in road wins with 10. Oklahoma City and Indiana are each second with nine road victories.

The Bulls' nine-game road trip is the longest since the 1992-93 season, when they went 6-3 on a nine-game trek. In 1974-75, Chicago played a team-record 11 straight games away from home (7-4). It will also make stops in New Jersey, New Orleans, Charlotte and Boston.

Milwaukee is back at home after losing by an 88-80 score last night in Detroit and will play back-to-back games in Brew City. It is 7-2 as the host and got 20 points from Brandon Jennings.

Shaun Livingston had 14 points and Ersan Ilyasova chipped in nine and 12 rebounds for the Bucks, who had won three in a row and six of eight games before shooting 35.1 percent from the floor at The Palace.

"Well we were terrible in every aspect of the game," Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said. "There's no reason to sugarcoat, our effort was awful; total lack of focus and concentration."

The Bucks will try to extend their home winning streak to four games and will also welcome the Phoenix Suns to the Bradley Center.

Milwaukee lost a 107-100 decision at Chicago on Jan. 27 this season, as Rose poured in 34 points to lead the way. Jennings led Milwaukee with 25 points and seven rebounds. The Bulls have won five straight and eight of the past 11 meetings between the teams. Since the 2003-04 season, Chicago has gone 23-10 against Milwaukee.

These two teams have split the last six meetings at the Bradley Center. In 13 career games against the Bucks, Rose is averaging 20.5 ppg. Jennings is posting 13.0 points per game in seven career matchups with the Bulls.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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