Cavs vs. Bulls Betting Line: Lone NBA Game for Thursday
Carrie Stroup here with the last of the NBA games before the All Star Break: The Cavs vs. Bulls betting line.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (33-21) at CHICAGO BULLS (33-20)
Sportsbook.ag Line: Cleveland -1.5, Total: 200
Cleveland hosted Miami on Wednesday and came away with a 113-93 victory as a 12-point home favorite. The Cavs have won-and-covered in three of their past four games and have also won 14 of their past 15 games SU. They are 12-3 ATS in those contests and have held their opponents to under 100 points in 11 of those games as well.
Everything is clicking on both ends of the floor for this Cleveland team, but they now face a Bulls squad that has won three straight games. Chicago hosted Sacramento on Tuesday and won 104-86 as an 11-point favorite. The Bulls have won-and-covered in two of their past three and this three-game SU winning streak followed up a three-game SU losing streak, so it could not have been timed better. Chicago has gone Under in five straight games and Cleveland has gone Over in three straight, so this one will be a blatant clash of styles.
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These teams have already met twice this season and the Cavs have won-and-covered in both meetings, including a 114-108 victory as 4.5-point underdogs in Chicago on Oct. 31, 2014. Over the past three seasons, the Bulls are 6-4 SU and ATS overall and 3-2 SU and ATS in Chicago in this head-to-head series. Cleveland is 14-4 ATS after five straight games where they allowed their opponents to shoot 42% FG or less over the past two seasons. The Cavs are also 25-13 ATS after covering in four or five of their past six in that time. Finally, the Bulls are 21-8 ATS when revenging a loss versus an opponent of 10 points or more over the past two years.
PF Kevin Love (Eye) is questionable for the Cavs, who are already without C Anderson Varejao (Achilles) for the remainder of the season. SG Jimmy Butler (Shoulder) is questionable for this game and PG Kirk Hinrich (Toe) is doubtful.
The Cavaliers are the hottest team in basketball right now and SF LeBron James (25.8 PPG, 7.4 APG, 5.6 RPG, 1.5 SPG) has been playing like an MVP again. James had 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in 31 minutes in Cleveland’s victory over Miami on Wednesday. He’s been distributing the ball extremely well over the past few weeks, averaging 8.0 APG over the past five games. He has struggled with his outside shot (19% 3PT in past five games) and will need to start knocking down threes so his defenders can’t strictly play the drive. If SF Jimmy Butler (20.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.8 SPG) can’t play for the Bulls, James should be able to dominate whoever ends up guarding him.
PG Kyrie Irving (21.8 PPG, 5.3 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.5 SPG) will need to be ready to play well on both ends of the floor, as he’s going to be matched up against PG Derrick Rose (18.7 PPG, 5.0 APG) on Thursday. Irving has not played well in two games against Chicago this season, averaging 20.5 PPG and 7.5 APG on some pretty inefficient shooting (39% FG). He’s putting up numbers against the Bulls, but he must improve his shot selection and make the most of his team’s possessions.
PF Kevin Love (17.0 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 2.3 APG) was playing really well against the Heat last game, scoring 12 points with six rebounds and four assists before leaving with a corneal abrasion. Love is questionable for this game and would be a big loss for this team, as he had just put up 32 points with 10 rebounds in a win over the Lakers on Sunday and was beginning to thrive offensively.
PF Tristan Thompson (9.1 PPG, 8.4 RPG) would see a bulk of the minutes if Love does not play. He had 17 points and nine rebounds in 36 minutes against the Heat and would provide a major upgrade defensively against the Bulls. A combination of Thompson and C Timofey Mozgov (9.2 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 1.3 BPG) could make things very difficult on PF Pau Gasol (18.4 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 2.1 BPG), who has been lighting it up offensively as of late.
The Bulls have won three straight games as they have played some much improved defense. Chicago allows 99.1 PPG on the season (13th in NBA) but has allowed just 85.0 PPG over the past three games. The team hasn’t skipped a beat offensively either, averaging 103.0 PPG in those contests.
PF Pau Gasol has racked up a double-double in 13 straight games for the Bulls. He’s averaging 21.8 PPG, 14.5 RPG, 3.5 APG and 1.5 BPG on some insanely accurate shooting (64% FG in past four games) in the month of February. Gasol should be able to put up some solid numbers against the Cavaliers on Thursday, but he’ll be counted on to play good defense as well.
C Joakim Noah (7.6 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.4 BPG) had eight points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocks the last time he faced the Cavaliers. Noah has been inconsistent all season, but he rises to the occasion in games like this one and will need to protect the rim against a Cleveland team that really knows how to attack the basket.
PG Derrick Rose has seemingly found his game recently, averaging 198 PPG and 5.4 APG over the past five contests. Rose had 23 points (10-for-17 FG), seven assists and two steals in 33 minutes against the Kings on Tuesday and made a lot of the shots at the rim he was missing earlier in the year. He’s averaging 19.0 PPG and 3.0 APG in two games against Cleveland this season and will need to do a better job distributing the ball if Chicago is going to win this game.
If SG Jimmy Butler doesn’t play, SG Tony Snell (4.4 PPG, 19 RPG) could see a major increase in minutes. Snell shot the lights out against the Kings last game, finishing with 24 points (9-for-11 FG, 4-for-6 3PT) in 41 minutes of action. He’s averaging 11.0 PPG in two games against Cleveland this season and provides another good wing defender to this Bulls rotation.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
