Chicago Bulls vs. Orlando Magic: Betting odds and prediction
A chance to respond to the worst two-game stretch of the regular season so far for second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls arrives on the night of Nov. 26. On Black Friday, the Bulls will take on the struggling Orlando Magic on the road at the Amway Center, with tip-off time set for 6 p.m. CT.
This will be the second road game in a row for Donovan and the Bulls, who are now looking to snap a two-game losing skid entering the weekend. The Bulls carry a record of 12-7 into this game following the embarrassing and borderline nightmarish road loss back to the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center back on Nov. 24, by the final score of 118-113.
Head coach Stephen Silas and the Rockets had just one win on the regular season, and were riding a 15-game losing streak, coming into that Nov. 24 meeting with the Bulls.
This two-game losing streak for the Bulls is also the first since last season to come against two opponents with losing records. Not really the streak you want to see out of the Bulls during one of the lighter portions of the regular season schedule.
Moreover, the Magic come into this game with a record of 4-15 following a 106-99 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at home back on Nov. 24. The Magic are also riding a four-game losing streak coming into this meeting with the Bulls.
Here’s a look at the betting odds and prediction as the Bulls take on the Magic in Orlando on Nov. 26.
Chicago Bulls vs. Orlando Magic betting odds
According to WynnBet, the Bulls are a 9.5-point favorite just a few hours ahead of tip-off against the Magic. And the over/under is set at 211.5 points.
The ESPN matchup predictor (based on the Basketball Power Index) gives the Bulls a 73.2 percent chance to top the Magic in this game.
The Bulls are pretty heavy favorites considering they just lost to the team with the worst record in the NBA earlier this week. But if this Bulls team comes out and plays like they have throughout most of the regular season thus far, they should pretty easily take care of business against the Magic.
Chicago Bulls vs. Orlando Magic prediction
There are multiple key storylines in play in this matchup between the Magic and Bulls. The first is that the Bulls will be facing their former lottery pick and center Wendell Carter Jr. for the first time in Orlando since they traded him last season. The Bulls did face WCJ when he was a member of the Magic down the stretch last season at the United Center. But this will be the first time this happens in Orlando.
Maybe the biggest storyline in this game is the return of star center Nikola Vucevic to Orlando for the first time since his longest-tenured team traded him at the deadline last season. Vucevic returned for the Bulls from a lengthy absence that stemmed a couple of weeks in the Bulls’ loss to the Rockets on Nov. 24.
We might see a heightened number of minutes in this game for Vucevic compared to the Rockets game.
It will also be interesting to see if star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan responds well in this game to two straight off nights. DeRozan had double the number of turnovers compared to assists in the loss to the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 22 and his worst game score of the season to date. And he shot just 31.6 percent from the field on 19 attempts in the loss to the Rockets.
dark. Next. 3 adjustments Billy Donovan must make to stop the losing streak
If DeRozan and Vucevic both come out with solid efforts for the Bulls on this night, then I’m confident this team will take care of business. This is an extremely important game for the Bulls to win before the back end of back-to-back games arrives at home at the United Center on Nov. 27 against star Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat.