NBA Betting Preview: New York Knicks at Chicago Bulls

The NBA season is underway and Thursday night’s card will offer an entertaining matchup between two of the teams vying to upset the World Champion Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls are optimistic now that superstar Derrick Rose is back in the lineup and presumably back to 100%. The Knicks are also expecting a big year and are just loaded with talent. Whether either team will present a legitimate challenge to LeBron James and the Heat remains to be seen but on balance they are likely Miami’s toughest challenges to return to the NBA Finals.

New York got their season underway on Wednesday night with a relatively ho-hum win at home over the Milwaukee Bucks. It definitely wasn’t a victory ‘for the ages’ as New York blew a 25 point lead before recovering at the end of the game to secure the win. The Knicks failed to cover the pointspread as -8 point home favorites but it’s understandable if their true focus was on this nationally televised contest with a big rival. The Bulls are looking to recover from an opening night beating at the hands of the aforementioned Miami Heat. Chicago managed to score enough in ‘garbage time’ to make the final score somewhat respectable but make no mistake–they were thrashed by the defending NBA Champs.

While it’s never a good idea to overreact to one game we’re not sold on the Bulls. More specifically, we’re not convinced that they’ll be in mid-season form right out of the gate. It may take some time for the team to get used to having Rose back on the floor. Additionally, this team may be somewhat overvalued by the betting marketplace. Chicago hasn’t been a good investment at the United Center for a couple of years now while the Knicks have been very good underdogs. New York has so many offensive weapons that they’re a tough defensive challenge even at Chicago’s best. We don’t think we’ll see that for several weeks and until then will be looking to fade the Bulls. Just can’t pass up a very good Knicks team getting a ton of points in what could be a ‘letdown’ spot for the Bulls following their opening game loss in Miami.

BET NEW YORK KNICKS +8 OVER MIAMI HEAT