Friday, March 7, 4:00 PM on ESPN, CSNC

United Center, Chicago, Illinois

The Bulls had a 7 of 8 straight up and against the spread win streak snapped at the hands of Brooklyn on the second half of a back and back on Monday night but they're looking to start anew. One notable thing Chicago fans noticed during their impressive run was that the Bulls were scoring. After averaging only 93.1 PPG on the season Chicago posted totals of 107, 103, 100, and 109 during a 4-game win streak. In a testament to Chicago's defense, two under bets hit during that time.

Memphis finds themselves lottery bound if they don't turn things around during their last 23 games. Dallas is up two games in the win column for the 8th spot in the Western Conference playoffs but the Grizzlies are showing a sense of urgency by winning 7 of their last 10. Memphis backers were only profitable in 4 of those wins though unless they took the over, which hit in 7 consecutive Grizzlies games.

Chicago was able to get one over on the Grizzlies in their previous meeting, pulling out a 95-91 victory as 5 point underdogs on the road in Memphis. It was pretty much a two man Bull rush as Jimmy Butler chalked 26 points and Carlos Boozer added 21. Mike Conley stepped up large for the Grizzlies with 26 points in 36 minutes. 4 of his teammates also reached double figures but it just wasn't enough to topple Chicago. In a matchup of two of the NBA's best defensive teams, oddsmakers only set the total for that first game at 177.5, enabling the 95-91 score to soar towards the over. With Memphis scoring 100+ in four straight to match Chicago's offensive firepower Friday's matchup could be interesting. "

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