Sixers malaise will continue as they face Villanova's Arcidiacono

Bulls are getting 5.5 points, and we think you take those points with a 1.0% punt.

The Bulls have been a hard to team to handicap this season, as has the Sixers, and this is why we're keeping the betting % down in this game. But here's what we really like in tonite's game:

#1 TJ is out
McConnell is quietly the winning force behind the Sixers. Off the bench or starting, his ability to wreak havoc on defense and even inbound passes is legendary, and his winning spirit can make the difference between Sixers holding onto a 2nd half lead, or losing it. The guy is just plain good, and hardly anyone sees it, even if they acknowledge he's a superior reserve player. Him being out of this game gives us a lot more confidence to risk money on the Bulls, who can already be a handful at times for any team. Sure, it's a bad team, and they are young and none of the players has a position locked up, but that doesn't mean they can't win unexpectedly.

#2 Kris Dunn out isn't a major problem
Jerian Grant has much improved since his previous seasons, and might even be a more solid starter than Dunn. Having Arcidiacono able to spell Grant might even be better than Jerian spelling Dunn. We like all 3 these guys, but our point is just that Dunn being injured just isn't as bad a problem as the market thinks, if it thinks about the Bulls at all!
Also, we LOVE Arch! Arcidiacono is the Bulls version of Alex Caruso and Lakers version of Josh Hart. It shouldn't be surprising that Villanova's well-coached underrated stars are performing well at the next level. Look for Arcidiacono to surprise during his scant minutes.

#3 5.5 points is better than 3
We rate the Bulls as needing +3 to make this fair, another 2.5 points is gravy, and you can even pay (120) vyg to make that +6 which we recommend doing.

#4 Sixers organization and coach make Bulls seem like geniuses.
Everyone from the owner to the medical staff is a massive negative for the Sixers. Brett Brown is awful at calling plays, and can't seem to have any influence over his players-- his teams love giving the ball up for pretty much Brown's entire tenure. Having superior talent nowadays in Embiid, Covington, TJ, Simmons and a quickly improving Dario still hasn't seemed to help with the turnovers. The Memphis game was truly one of the most pathetic games we've ever seen.

What can go wrong?

A. Small Edge
We're not claiming this game is easy, we're playing the averages on this one, looking at a slight edge and keeping bet size small.

B. Sixers incentive to win
Bulls have no hope for playoffs, total rebuild, thus zero incentive to topple Sixers at their home.
Sixers on the other hand have made loose promises to make the playoffs, and thus desire to win SHOULD be high (they lost to a 4th-tier-manned Memphis team).

C. LaVine is back, LaVine is back
If LaVine gets more minutes than 24, we'd say this is a negative not a positive. he ain't right yet.

D. Our confidence and believability
We've been winning the small bets, and losing the big ones. Maybe since this is a small bet that's a good thing, but we wouldn't trust ourselves, thus our inclination towards a smaller bet than 1.0% is strong. We're keeping it at 1.0% instead of dropping to our 0.5% min simply bc this is a small bet anyway.

Wishing Steemians the best of luck, and hope you use your own judgement in addition to anything you might have leaerned here!