Chicago makes the short drive up the lake to again take on the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round series. The teams meet at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Milwaukee won Game 1 on Sunday, 93-86, behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 27-point, 16-rebound performance. It was the fifth win of the season for the Bucks over the Bulls, and this one may have been Chicago’s best shot at stealing a win from the third-seeded Bucks.
The defending champions did not look sharp, and they can find solace in the fact that there is room for improvement and they still won the first game by three possessions,
The line opened at Milwakuee -9.5 with an over/under of 225. The line has since moved a half-point to Milwaukee -10 as of this writing.
Milwaukee Bucks Betting Preview: Limit turnovers
Chicago largely was in that game due to 21 Bucks turnovers. Though fortunately for Milwaukee, its guests shot 32.3% from the field and couldn’t capitalize on several transition opportunities down the stretch. Outside of Antetokounmpo, the Bucks converted 36.9% of attempts as a team, though they did have five total in double figures.
Milwaukee needs to limit turnovers so that they aren’t giving a highly efficient offense more opportunities. The Bucks were able to win the rebounding margin 58-53 and assisted on 19 of their 34 makes.
Milwaukee was the fifth-best 3-point shooting offense during the regular season at 36.6%, but the Bucks converted 26.3% in Game 1. The stars were really aligned for the Bulls to steal one.
Brook Lopez had 18 points on 14 shots, despite going one for five on 3s. There’s a potential mismatch to watch.
Chicago Bulls Betting Preview: Capitalize on miscues
The Bulls were uncharacteristically inefficient in the opening game of the series. Their stars struggled to convert, with DeMar DeRozan pledging to never shoot 6 for 25 again.
Nikola Vucevic was 9 for 27, and Zach LaVine was 6 for 19. Neither hit their 3-pointers either. The team’s shooting splits of .323/.189/.895 were shocking from a team that was top-5 in efficiency.
While harping on the Bucks’ inefficiencies, it’s safe to say the Bulls won’t have those issues again on that level from all three stars. For the season, the Bulls were third in field goal percentage at 48.0% and fourth in 3-point percentage at 36.9%.
Chicago had some opportunities squandered in transition late in the fourth quarter. Otherwise, they may have walked out of Fiserv Forum with a win despite the poor shooting.
Betting Prediction
The Bulls are 2-3 against the spread this season against the Bucks, with both covers coming as double-digit underdogs. With the line up to 10, it’s tempting to go along with 55% of the public bets and take the Bulls at that number, but the Bucks just won by ten despite miscues.
But one has to figure the Bulls will also shoot the ball better, despite Milwaukee being a tough interior team.
Chicago is 2-5 against the spread in the last seven meetings, and the under has hit in the last five meetings. We’ll take Bulls +10.
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