Prediction: Chicago Bulls VS Charlotte Hornets 2025-12-12

Chicago Bulls vs. Charlotte Hornets: A Tale of Two Teams Falling Off a Cliff

The Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Hornets are like two contestants on The Great British Bake Off who both forgot to add flour—disaster, but with different flavors of incompetence. The Bulls (9-14), fresh off a seven-game losing streak, are the burnt soufflé: promising in theory, collapsed in reality. The Hornets (7-17) are the raw dough: still unstructured but with the potential to rise if they avoid the oven’s heat. Let’s dissect this matchup with the precision of a surgeon (or a fan trying to return a faulty product).

Parsing the Odds: Why This Feels Like a Coin Flip Held Hostage by Injuries
The Bulls are 1.5-point favorites, but their implied probability of winning (54.6% at decimal odds of 1.83) feels more like a mercy bet than a confident pick. Their recent performance? A masterclass in squandering opportunities. Since November 24, they’ve lost to the Pelicans, Pacers (twice), Nets, and Golden State, which is like losing to your little cousin, the mailman, and the guy who eats expired hot dogs at the gas station.

Charlotte’s odds (50% implied probability at +2.0) are more forgiving, and for good reason. The Hornets shoot 45.3%, which is decent, but their defense allows 116.3 points per game in their last 10—porous enough that Michael Jordan could probably dribble through their zone defense. The Bulls, meanwhile, average 28.4 assists (led by Josh Giddey’s all-around dominance: 20.3 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 8.9 APG), but their defense is a sieve. They rank 24th in net rating and allow 123.4 PPG—so good luck, Charlotte, trying to score against them.

The over/under is 236.5 points, but both teams are trending under. Chicago averages 111.6 PPG in their last 10, while Charlotte musters 111.0. The previous meeting on Nov. 29 saw 243 points, but that was before Chicago’s injury crisis spiraled into a soap opera.

Injury Updates: A Cast of Characters From House, M.D.
The Bulls are missing Jalen Smith (knee), Tre Jones (hip), and Kevin Huerter (hamstring)—their second-unit lifeline. Giddey is playing through it, but even he can’t outwork a team that ranks 25th in defensive rebounding and 27th in forced turnovers. Coach Billy Donovan’s recent press conference was less “strategy session” and more “Why did we think we could fold towels for a living?”

Charlotte’s injury report reads like a Where’s Waldo? scavenger hunt: LaMelo Ball (ankle), Collin Sexton (hip), and Grant Williams (hip) are all day-to-day. Moussa Diabate is out with a knee injury, which is a bummer because his main job is to stand near the rim and hope for a tip-in. Still, Miles Bridges is averaging 24.0 PPG over his last 10 games, and Kon Knueppel is the team’s version of a Swiss Army knife—sharp, versatile, and occasionally used to open stubborn pickle jars.

The Verdict: Why the Hornets Might Win
Let’s be real: This game is less about skill and more about who trips less. The Bulls’ defense is so bad that they’d let a toddler with a tennis ball score 30 points. Their “little things,” as Donovan calls them, include turning the ball over like it’s a cursed heirloom and failing to communicate worse than a group chat where no one reads the messages.

Charlotte, meanwhile, has the advantage of being slightly less dysfunctional. Bridges’ scoring punch and the Hornets’ 6-11 record in games decided by 10+ points suggest they can close out teams that give them extra chances. Plus, Chicago’s last 10 games have been a psychological horror show—Donovan called out poor inbounding, and their net rating is worse than a Black Friday sale at a landfill.

Final Prediction: Hornets +2.5, Under 236.5 Points
The Bulls are a paper tiger: All bark, no bite, and a tendency to eat their own tail when stressed. The Hornets, for all their flaws, have the edge in this mismatch because Chicago’s “fix the little things” mantra sounds like a step-by-step guide to building a Rube Goldberg machine.

Final Score Prediction: Charlotte 114, Chicago 110.

Why? Because the Bulls’ offense will be outshone by the Hornets’ ability to look less embarrassed. And if nothing else, Charlotte’s injury report is more entertaining than Chicago’s game plan.

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Place your bets, but maybe also place a bet on yourself to never invest in a team with a 24th-ranked net rating. 🐝🏀

Created: Dec. 11, 2025, 5:56 p.m. GMT

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