The new look Chicago Bulls will attempt to do Sunday night what no team has done in weeks: Beat the Houston Rockets - who are 10-point favorites on WagerWeb.com.
Houston is coming off a 100-80 win over the West-leading Hornets, the Rockets' 11th straight win. It's Houston's longest winning streak in nearly 15 years. During the stretch Houston's schedule hadn't been that tough, as the Rockets beat six teams that currently have losing records and hadn't beaten a division leader until Friday night's win over New Orleans.
And how impressive was that New Orleans win? The Hornets came in with an eight-game home victory streak, winning by an average of 20 a night. In the past 10 games, they had beaten the Spurs, Suns, Nuggets and Mavericks. Yet Tracy McGrady scored 34 points, had six assists, connected on 14-of-26 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3 against New Orleans.
Houston led by as many as 27 points, outshot New Orleans 49 percent to 40 percent and outrebounded the Hornets 55-38.
And Houston needs to keep winning, as it is in a battle just to reach the playoffs in the deep West; Houston enters Sunday in the No. 7 spot yet also just a few games from the top seed. That's how tight the West is.
"We're playing ball and playing together," Houston forward Shane Battier said. "We're just having fun playing right now."And you'd think Houston would have little trouble on Sunday night against Chicago, which has lost nine of its past 10 against Houston and will work in Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden for the first time since this week's big trade with Cleveland.
Interestingly, Sunday will mark the third time in 17 days those players have faced the Rockets, who beat Cleveland on Feb. 7 and then again Tuesday as part of their current 11-game winning streak.
"We've seen a good dose of Yao [Ming]," Hughes said.
In the team's first meeting this season, in Chicago on Dec. 22, Houston won 116-98, a game that proved to be the last for coach Scott Skiles with the Bulls. Seven Houston players scored in double figures, including McGrady with 20.
The Rockets have held eight of their last nine opponents below 90 points, and are giving up just 90.5 per game in going 20-4 since the beginning of January.
"Defensively, we're locked in," McGrady said.
The Bulls are scoring just 95.6 points per game and rank last in the NBA in field-goal percentage at 42.7.
Houston's last loss was at home vs. Utah on Jan. 27. The Rockets have ripped off six straight victories at the Toyota Center since. They also will be getting a new player tonight, as their trade for Bobby Jackson from the Hornets was officially completed Saturday afternoon, making Jackson available to play against the Bulls.
| ATS | Chicago | Houston |
| Record: | 22-32-0 (.407) | 35-20-0 (.636) |
| As Favorite: | 13-11-0 (.542) | 26-13-0 (.667) |
| As Underdog: | 9-21-0 (.300) | 9-7-0 (.563) |
| At Home: | 12-14-0 (.462) | 17-9-0 (.654) |
| On Road: | 10-18-0 (.357) | 18-11-0 (.621) |
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