The Atlanta Hawks (28-30) stop by United Center Thursday for an 8 p.m. ET tip-off with the Chicago Bulls (38-21). Below, we look at the Hawks vs. Bulls odds and lines, and make our expert NBA picks, predictions and bets.
Atlanta has won back-to-back games over the Cleveland Cavaliers (124-116 Feb. 15) and at the Orlando Magic (130-109 Feb. 17). The Hawks were 4-4 straight up (SU) and against the spread (ATS) in the two weeks entering the All-Star break.
Chicago rides a 5-game win streak (4-1 ATS) into the second half of the season with the most recent being a 125-118 home win versus the Sacramento Kings as 5.5-point favorites. The Bulls are 7-3 SU and ATS in their last 10 games.
Hawks at Bulls odds, spread and lines
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 7:15 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Hawks +140 (bet $100 to win $140) | Bulls -175 (bet $175 to win $100)
- Against the spread: Hawks +3.5 (-105) | Bulls -3.5 (-120)
- Over/Under: 234.5 (O: -115 | U: -107)
Hawks at Bulls key injuries
Hawks (not officially submitted)
- PF John Collins (heel) out
Bulls (not officially submitted)
- PG Lonzo Ball (knee) out
- SG Alex Caruso (wrist) out
- PG Ayo Dosunmu (hand) questionable
- SF Zach LaVine (knee) questionable
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Hawks at Bulls odds, lines, picks and predictions
Prediction
Bulls 122, Hawks 110
Money line
BET the BULLS (-175), and I’d pay for Chicago’s money line (ML) all the way up to -180.
The Bulls waxed the Hawks 130-118 and 131-117 in a home-and-away back-to-back Dec. 27-29, and I don’t see this meeting playing out much differently. Chicago is 32-7 SU as favorites, and Atlanta is 6-12 SU as underdogs with a minus-5.6 margin of victory.
Not only is Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan playing at an MVP-caliber level, but Chicago big Nikola Vucevic gives the Hawks matchup fits since Vucevic eats up Atlanta big Clint Capela‘s defensive and rebounding bandwidth.
Vucevic put up 20.0 points on 51.5% shooting and 18.5 rebounds in the first two Hawks-Bulls meetings and had a plus-21 net rating.
Finally, the market has overrated Atlanta all season long based on a flukey run to last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. The Hawks were one of the favorites to make it out of the East during the preseason but will probably end up as a play-in seed.
For the record, the BULLS (-175) is my favorite wager.
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Against the spread
LEAN to the BULLS -3.5 (-120) only because I’m so confident in Chicago I’m willing to spend extra on the ML. However, this is a much better spot for the Bulls, and the Hawks are atrocious on the road.
For instance, Chicago is 17-7 ATS as home favorites, 12-4 ATS at home versus teams below-.500 and 6-3 ATS when laying 3-4.5 points. Atlanta is 6-12 ATS as road underdogs, 3-13 ATS in the last 16 games versus teams with a 60.0% winning rate or higher and 1-6 ATS as underdogs of 3-4.5 points.
If Chicago’s ML goes north of -180 then I’d lay up to 5.5 points with the Bulls in this spot.
Also (shameless plug), I gave out Chicago’s spread in this week’s Bet Slippin’ Podcast episode so listen to that for more analysis on this game.
Over/Under
PASS.
I cannot play the Under 234.5 (-107) because there are too many reasons to like the Over (-115). However, I’m staying away from the Over because a majority of the market will be on the Over, and this total is a little too high.
That said, the first two Hawks-Bulls meetings soared Over the total, Atlanta is 10-8 O/U as road underdogs, Chicago is 13-10-1 O/U as home favorites, and both teams are top-seven in adjusted offensive free-throw rate, according to CleaningTheGlass.com.
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