Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Chicago Bulls Betting Preview, Game Stats

Still in a battle for a Western Conference playoff berth, the Oklahoma City Thunder will be favorites on the NBA betting lines for Thursday night as they play on the road against the Chicago Bulls in a battle between two teams missing their marquee players.

The Thunder continue to play without forward Kevin Durant, who is out indefinitely with a foot injury but expects to return to the lineup before the end of the regular season.

The Bulls, meanwhile, have guard Derrick Rose on the sidelines after he suffered yet another serious knee injury last month; Rose is expected to be out until at least the end of March. Chicago also has guard Jimmy Butler on its injury list, as he's going to miss a few weeks with a sprained elbow.

But Chicago plays in the Eastern Conference, and at 38-23 straight-up (28-33 against the spread) heading into Thursday night's Thunder vs. Bulls betting matchup, it's in little danger of missing the playoffs even with those key players injured.

The Thunder, however, remain in a fight for the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket along with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Phoenix Suns. Oklahoma City has the lead in that race right now, thanks to a strong run over the last two weeks.

And the sportsbooks still consider the Thunder to be title contenders this season, despite the fact they're much farther down the standings than expected to start the month of March. The latest Odds Shark update had Oklahoma City at a respectable 7-1 on the odds to win the NBA title, with Chicago farther back at 14-1 on that list.

Oklahoma City and Chicago haven't met since last March, when the Thunder won 97-85 as a 2.5-point road favorite in the eighth under result between the two teams in their last 10 meetings. The Thunder are 7-3 straight-up and 6-4 against the spread in their last 10 games against the Bulls dating back to 2009.

For Thursday night, sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark opened the Thunder as four-point road favorites with the over/under at 200.5 points. Oklahoma City was a 15-point home favorite against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night, but they surprisingly needed overtime to beat them 123-118. Russell Westbrook poured in 49 points for the Thunder in that win.

The Bulls are coming off a 97-92 win over the Washington Wizards Tuesday night in which Nikola Mirotic had a team-high 23 points off the bench. Aaron Brooks scored 22 points for Chicago in that home victory, while Pau Gasol picked up 20 points and 10 rebounds on the night.