Probable starters: Suns - De’Anthony Melton, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Dragan Bender, Deandre Ayton Bulls - Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, Otto Porter Jr., Lauri Markkanen, Robin Lopez Even though both of these teams have less than 20 wins at this point in the season, they have young and appealing starting lineups that should make for a fun matchup tonight. Will it be Booker’s Suns or LaVine’s Bulls that pull off the win at Talking Stick Resort Arena? Let’s find out right now.<doc-sep>Bulls vs. Suns Prediction The Phoenix Suns own a dreadful 17-54 record, but they’ve also won six of their last 10 games. Listed as a small home favorite tonight, will they beat the struggling Bulls and also cash for bettors in the process? Tip-off for tonight’s game is set for 10:00 p.m. ET. Game Snapshot 547 Chicago Bulls at 548 Phoenix Suns 10:00 p.m. ET, Monday, March 18, 2019 Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Arizona Our NBA Live Odds page pulls spreads and totals from multiple different online sportsbooks so you can compare betting odds to ensure you’re getting the best line. Public Betting Trends According to oddsmakers from online sportsbook BetNow.eu, the Suns are 3-point favorites to beat the Bulls. The total, meanwhile, sits at 228.5 points and as of this writing, 76% of the public betting tickets wagered at online sportsbooks are on the Suns to cover the point spread. Chicago Bulls Fantasy Spin Zach LaVine (knee) needed 18 shots to score 18 points on Sunday, making seven field goals with two 3-pointers, three rebounds, three assists and three steals in 29 minutes. Despite the lackluster line, fantasy owners have to be thrilled that LaVine is playing despite a recent knee injury. He was also earning praise from coach Jim Boylen, who said on Sunday, "[LaVine] is becoming is an elite player in our league who’s a creator, receiver, strong decision maker and on top of that he’s improved his defense." The Bulls' schedule isn't great with three games in each of the next three weeks, but as long as he's active LaVine is an obvious play in weekly leagues. Phoenix Suns Fantasy Spin Devin Booker scored 40 points with five rebounds, 13 assists, one block, seven turnovers and three 3-pointers in 41 minutes during a 138-136 overtime win at New Orleans on Saturday. The Suns got lucky in this one with the Pelicans calling for a timeout when they ran out, so Booker hit the go-ahead free throw. The Suns have won five of their last eight games and they're only 2.5 games "up" on the Bulls for top lottery odds. Booker has played excellent ball lately as a top-25 player since the break, so keep him locked and loaded. NBA Betting Trends Chicago The Bulls are 1-4 against the spread in their last five games overall and are 9-19 at the betting window in their last 28 games when playing an opponent with a losing record. Phoenix The Suns have covered in seven of their previous eight games and are 5-2 against the number in their last seven home games. Prediction This is a pure fade-the-public situation for me. As you can see from above, the Suns have been covering at an excellent clip while the Bulls have not only struggled ATS over their last five games, they were also blasted last night in Sacramento. Anybody paying attention to Phoenix’s last 10 games will take a flier on a team that has played well and is only laying three points at home but this feels like a trap game. The Bulls are 7-2 against the spread in their last nine games in Phoenix, while the underdog has cashed in 10 of the last 12 meetings between these two teams. After getting embarrassed last night, I like Chicago to play its best game while an over-confident Suns squad stumbles. Monday NBA Prediction: Chicago Bulls +3<doc-sep>Against another bottom five team in the Phoenix Suns, the Chicago Bulls finally snapped their losing streak. The Bulls were just the better team, controlling the whole game and holding Phoenix to a TS% of 52.9% with just 43 points in the first half. They picked it up in the second half but some of those points can be accounted for garbage time when the game was already decided. The trio of Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, and Lauri Markkanen all scored double digits with latter duo dropping 17 points apiece. But the leading scorer for the Bulls was Robin Lopez. Against one of his former teams, Lopez scored a team high 24 points and grabbed 5 offensive rebounds as he shot an efficient 11 of 14 from the field. It was evident Chicago wanted to get Lopez involved early and often as they ran multiple post up plays for him. Lopez was a big part of the Bulls big start to the game, going 4 of 5 from the field in the first quarter for 8 points. Your browser does not support HTML5 video. The play starts with Kris Dunn on the left wing waiting to give an entry pass to Lopez. He posts up a bit higher than he usually does but Lopez gets the ball from Dunn with ease. As soon as he gets the ball, you can sort of tell where Lopez is going. His entire body isn’t in front of Deandre Ayton. He gave up a lot of space to Ayton on his left and with Shaq Harrison moving to the other corner, the baseline is open. Lopez gets the ball and quickly spins to his right towards the hoop. Ayton reacts quickly and does well to not let Lopez move inside to the front of the hoop. Just when it looks like his drive to the basket is stopped, Lopez stops right when he gets to the restricted area and spins back to his left. With Ayton already committed underneath the hoop, there is no other Sun protecting the rim. Lopez is able to keep his body in front of Ayton and shots a hook shot as he slowly falls away. It was a wily and savvy move by Lopez to get a high percentage shot from a post up which started near the three-point line. Your browser does not support HTML5 video. Like the last play, this one starts with Dunn being the guy with the ball. This time it’s a Dunn-Lopez pick and roll which is the main action. Lopez sets a screen on De’Anthony Melton and with Dragon Bender not stepping up, Dunn has a clear lane towards the hoop. Melton does a great job of fighting through the screen and gets back to Dunn as soon as he gets into the lane. With Melton on his right hip and Bender right in front of him, Dunn decides to jump to his right towards the hoop for a layup attempt. He’s able to get there mostly due to Bender initially not putting his hands up to block nor alter his shot. Bender does it a bit late and Dunn is able to get the shot off. But the ball goes way high off the glass and hits the front of the rim. While Dunn was taking the shot, Lopez was rolling towards the rim with nobody stopping him. As soon as Dunn’s shot hits off the backboard you can see Lopez’s eyes light up as he knows a rebound opportunity is coming. Again with no Sun there to box him out, Lopez is able to grab the ball right when it comes off the rim and slams it with one swift motion. Bender jumped back to grab the ball but the idea of him getting the rebound with one hand was quickly shut down by Lopez, who bounced off him and dunked the ball. It was a nasty putback dunk and it produced a golden reaction by Cristiano Felicio on the bench. Tired: watching Bulls-Suns Wired: watching Cris Felicio watch Bulls-Suns pic.twitter.com/pcDL2BWAwR — Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) March 19, 2019 Lopez was featured often in this Bulls offense, and he rewarded Jim Boylen’s faith by taking advantage of Phoenix’s young big men: finding space to shoot his patented mini-hook along with crashing the glass.<doc-sep>What: Phoenix Suns host the Chicago Bulls When: 7:00 p.m. AZ Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena Watch: Fox Sports Arizona Listen: 98.7 FM Probable starters: Suns - Tyler Johnson, Devin Booker, Kelly Oubre Jr., Dragan Bender, Deandre Ayton Bulls - Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, Otto Porter Jr., Lauri Markkanen, Robin Lopez UPDATE: Tyler Johnson (sore right knee) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (left thumb sprain) have been ruled out of tonight’s game. Assuming De’Anthony Melton and Mikal Bridges would start instead. Bulls OffRtg - 104.6 (29th), DefRtg - 112.5 (28th), NetRtg = -8.0 (27th) When speaking on the Chicago Bulls this season, the first thing that needs to be brought up is Zach LaVine’s all-around improvements. LaVine is averaging 23.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1 steal on 46.7/37.2/83.0 shooting splits. The former UCLA Bruin has raised his point totals by 7 (16.7 — 23.8) while also taking a leap in playmaking. I’ve seen many on NBA Twitter try to compare LaVine to Booker, but I don’t really see it when you notice how massive a step Booker has taken as a facilitator. LaVine actually matches up well with Donovan Mitchell, who is also averaging 23 points and 4 assists per game. Both LaVine and Mitchell are high-usage guards with not a lot of offensive firepower surrounding them, but when they get hot it’s hard to stop them at all. Expect Kelly Oubre Jr. to draw the assignment of guarding LaVine early and often. Slowing him down will be critical for the Suns’ to keep this positive momentum with winning flowing. Next up on the list is my X-factor for tonight’s game, but also for the Bulls’ entire rebuild: Lauri Markkanen. The Finnish sniper hasn’t really taken a big “leap” just yet but he’s already putting up close to 20 points per game in his second season. Without LaVine on the team, Markkanen seriously could be close to 25 ppg instead of 18.7. The Suns went with Josh Jackson at No. 4 overall back at the 2017 Draft over names like De’Aaron Fox and Markkanen. Former GM Ryan McDonough didn’t really consider the U of A stretch 4 because they still believed in the development of Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss, and we’ve seen how that’s gone the past 18 months. If Phoenix lets Markkanen get wherever he wants on the floor, that spells trouble against this Bulls team. The prospect they thought could be a Markkanen type in Bender will have to hold his own early and often. Finally, I would be remiss not to talk for a moment here about Bulls head coach Jim Boylen. If you want to see the polar opposite sideline demeanor from Igor Kokoskov, watch Boylen when he gets animated. After firing Fred Hoiberg, Chicago signed Boylen and it was rocky with long practices and reportedly running suicides. The relationship seems to have grown since then, though, because LaVine just paid his ejection fines this weekend from his spat with Clippers coach Doc Rivers. This Bulls squad is full of promising talent and interesting personalities who actually match up well with the surging Suns. If Phoenix comes out slow, it could be a rough one. Suns OffRtg - 104.8 (27th), DefRtg - 113.2 (29th), NetRtg = -8.4 (29th) Devin Booker seems to be thriving right now and willingly giving viewers a sneak peek of what’s to come in Year 5. Over his last six games, Booker is putting up bonkers numbers that are even better than James Harden. Booker - 32.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 10.3 FTA; 48.1 FG%, 38.5 3PT%, 87.1 FT% Harden - 30.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 9.3 FTA; 40.4 FG%, 25.4 3PT%, 87.5 FT% As you can tell, that really is Harden 2.0 that Booker is currently pulling off. Booker is snapping out of his cold stretch from beyond the arc while also continuing to convert at the rim early and often at a 65 percent clip. If Booker can keep this up over the final 11 games of the season, there should be some serious consideration for Booker to be in consideration for Western Conference Player of the Month for March or April. And it should make Suns fans giddy as well because Booker could be making the true star leap right now. Suns PR just announced that Kelly Oubre Jr. is questionable for tonight’s game with a thumb sprain, but he’s been vital to the Suns’ recent success. Only three players are averaging at least 20 points and 2 steals per game since the All-Star break: Bradley Beal, Harden and Oubre Jr. Pretty impressive list to be a part of. Oubre Jr. also seems to have found a long-term home in the Valley. His strengths continue to be maximized by Igor Kokoskov’s staff, which is awesome to see. Over 40 percent of his shot attempts since mid-February have come from inside the restricted area. For an athletic wing like Oubre Jr., that’s one of the easiest shots for him. It’s very impressive, especially with the month-long stretch we’ve already witnessed, that Oubre Jr. continues to stuff the stat sheet defensively while pouring in the points as a secondary option alongside Booker and Deandre Ayton. If Oubre Jr. can’t go tonight, that will be a big blow to the Suns’ chances. For someone who wasn’t valued highly with the Wizards, his absence actually would matter with the Suns. We’ll see before tipoff if “Samurai Papi” ends up starting. The Suns’ X-factor for tonight’s game has to be Deandre Ayton. Phoenix’s first No. 1 pick in franchise history has battled through adversity recently and showing some real improvements defensively. In a one-on-one matchup versus Robin Lopez, this is where he should feast. Almost all of the other assignments are equal, but the difference between Ayton and Lopez is definitely huge. Kokoskov and Co. needs to feed the Bahamian big fella early and often in this one, as he could be the difference in a closely contested game.<doc-sep>
On a back-to-back and 3rd game in 4 nights, the Bulls still managed to have enough...uh...spirit to beat the Phoenix Suns 116-101 to finish out their road trip by snapping a 5 game losing streak. There was no tanking strategy employed by the Boylen Boys in preparation for this marquee context between 2 teams in the bottom-four of the standings. Otto Porter was out with a shoulder injury but by all accounts that was legitimate. The rest of the starters, including Zach LaVine, were all available. That included Robin Lopez, who was dominant to the tune of 24 points and 7 boards. His lineups were a team-high +24 in his 26 minutes of action. This has been a huge chunk of the Bulls' offense tonight. A TON of post ups, watching Robin Lopez back down his man. It's working but it's a Pyrrhic victory. Lopez was 7-of-9 in that first half, led the team in shots and points. pic.twitter.com/qJOPzQ0vKB — Stephen Noh (@StephNoh) March 19, 2019 Lopez was key behind a 34-20 first quarter edge that for the rest of the game saw the Bulls lead rarely get near ten. The purportedly more important players like Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen did wind up joining in on the action in the 2nd half, both with 17 (Markkanen on 15 shots, LaVine on 10). Both teams shot terribly from distance, the Bulls going 4-16 and Suns at 7-26. But the Bulls outscored them by 20 in the paint. Toughness. Shaq Harrison got the surprise start for Porter, I guess maybe trying to use REVENGE GAME motivation? It likely didn’t help with floor spacing, but he did do this late. The Suns are drawing up some elite tank plays after timeout. pic.twitter.com/8uF1PkWb3T — Stephen Noh (@StephNoh) March 19, 2019 This was during the ‘key’ moments where the Bulls lead did shrink a bit with their awful bench in, but the starters came back in for the final 6 minutes to secure things. Then Boylen called timeout with under a minute which annoyed his second opposing coach in 3 games. The Suns have had some ‘big’ wins lately too, but they also had several players out in this one due to injury (I won’t bother researching the veracity of them). Plus they, like the Bulls, are just a non-playoff team playing out the string since the trade deadline and these games have no meaning. I only pay attention to see if the team is embarrassing enough to force the Bulls to do a coaching search this offseason. Tonight, not so much, due to...uh...Robin Lopez, cool. I know tank-humpers are especially upset that they didn’t start Cristiano Felicio with one shoe on or something, but while this was a game against a fellow bottom-4 squad, I think we’ve learned this team can lose to anybody and weird results happen in these pointless contests (Cavaliers won tonight, for example), so have faith?