The Brooklyn Nets look to keep control of their destiny for the second seed in the Eastern Conference as they head to the Windy City on Tuesday to face the Chicago Bulls. The Nets just snapped a four-game losing streak in their last game while the Bulls are riding a three-game winning streak heading into this matchup. Not that it will matter much as the Nets are the better team and should get the job done.
The Brooklyn Nets end their road trip Tuesday night in Chicago clinging to a one-game lead for the second seed in the top-heavy Eastern Conference. Brooklyn was able to snap a four-game skid in Denver on Saturday and now they will try to win consecutive games as they face the Chicago Bulls, who are riding a three-game winning streak. Though one of those wins came against the conference-worst Pistons, the Bulls had dominant wins over a pair of playoff teams – Boston and Charlotte – as the other two victories. Chicago has clearly received a boost from Nikola Vucevic since acquiring him at the trade deadline, but he’s not the only star. Zach LaVine is averaging 27.3 points per game this season to lead the team, slightly more than the 22.7 points per game Vucevic has averaged since joining the team. The key to this current winning streak is the play of Coby White, who has scored at least 20 points in three of his last four games, including the past two. The Bulls are 8-9 when White has scored at least 20 points this season and are 6-18 when the second-year player has scored 12 points or fewer. No one is surprised by how top-heavy the Nets’ scoring has been this season given the trio of stars Brooklyn has had for most of the season. James Harden is still out, but Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are doing just fine as a duo in the Nets backcourt. Durant has dropped at least 30 points in five of his last seven games while Irving has scored at least 30 in three straight games. Since Durant returned the lineup full time on April 25, the duo have averaged slightly more than 60 points per game. The only difference in Brooklyn winning or losing is whether or not another role player can score 15-20 points, and on most nights, someone has been able to fill that spot to help complement the scoring from Durant and Irving. Given the disparity between the two teams in the standings, it’s no surprise that Brooklyn is the favorite at the legal sports betting sites in New Jersey. What shocked me a little is the fact the basketball betting sites in New Jersey only installed the Nets as 5.5-point favorites in this game. That is far more respect for Chicago and its three-game winning streak than I was expecting, and creates plenty of excellent betting opportunities. We’ll start with the easy one because I do expect Brooklyn to cover, but I also think Chicago will keep it close for much of the game. So, I’ll start by wagering on the Nets to win by 6-10 points for +430 odds at the NBA betting sites in New Jersey. From there, I looked at when these two teams met last month in Chicago – a win for the Bulls – and noticed the Bulls limited the Nets to just 107 points in that game. It’s silly to think the Bulls can slow down the Nets again, especially since Irving was the only member of the Big 3 who played in that first meeting. But Chicago has played good defense the past few weeks, and I think it can challenge Brooklyn’s offense. So I’m going to double down on Chicago’s defense by betting both under 226.5 total points at +155 odds and parlaying the Nets laying 5.5 points with under 232.5 total points for +260 odds.
Brooklyn -5 points The Bulls have a lot of young talent that is slowly maturing into a decent team, but they don’t have the weapons to compete with Brooklyn. The Nets are in a dogfight for the second seed in the Eastern Conference and every game counts in that race for playoff positioning. Brooklyn will also have the two best players on the floor, so I’ll bet on the Nets to win.
