The Atlanta Hawks (15-18) meet the Chicago Bulls (21-10) in the second of their back-to-back Wednesday at the United Center. The tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. Below, we look at the Hawks vs. Bulls odds and lines, and make our expert NBA picks, predictions and bets.
Chicago handled Atlanta in the first of their two-game series 130-118 Monday, easily covering as 3.5-point road favorites.
Bulls’ wings DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine combined for 65 points on 25-of-42 shooting and 19 assists in the win. It was Hawks’ point guard Trae Young‘s first game back after missing three games with COVID. Young put up 29 points on 8-of-23 shooting with 9 assists.
Chicago has won four straight games and covered in three of those four wins while Atlanta has lost four of its past five games with a 1-4 ATS record over that span.
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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 3:50 p.m. ET.
- Money line: Hawks +290 (bet $100 to win $290) | Bulls -380 (bet $380 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Hawks +7.5 (-107) | Bulls -7.5 (-115)
- Over/Under (O/U): 223.5 (O: -115 | U: -107)
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Hawks at Bulls key injuries
Hawks
- PF John Collins (health and safety protocols) out
- SG Kevin Huerter (health and safety protocols) out
- SF Danilo Gallinari (health and safety protocols) out
- SG Bogdan Bogdanovic (health and safety protocols) out
- SF De’Andre Hunter (health and safety protocols) out
Hawks
- SF Derrick Jones Jr. (hamstring) questionable
- PG Lonzo Ball (health and safety protocols) out
- C Tony Bradley (health and safety protocols) out
- SG Alex Caruso (foot) out
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Hawks at Bulls odds, lines, picks and predictions
Prediction
Bulls 115, Hawks 111
Money line
PASS because Chicago still has a decisive advantage given Atlanta’s injury report, but the Bulls (-380) is far too expensive for an NBA regular-season money line favorite.
Against the spread
“LEAN” to the HAWKS +7.5 (-107) for a half-unit because of the zig-zag theory mostly. Essentially, it’s tough to beat the same team in consecutive games in the NBA and it’s almost profitable to automatically bet against the team that just won the previous contest.
Also, Atlanta was randomly hit by sharp money as the Hawks changed 8.5-point to 7.5-point underdogs while I was writing this. A majority of the money is still on the Bulls, according to Pregame.com and the Yahoo! Sports app, but the line is moving towards Atlanta.
Maybe there’ll be breaking news about one of Atlanta’s players clearing the health and safety protocols or perhaps the “wise guys” just like the Hawks in this spot.
Either way, I can only “LEAN” to the HAWKS -7.5 (-107) because of the situation whereas I’m actually higher on the Bulls long-term. This just feels like a good spot to fade the public.
Over/Under
“LEAN” to the OVER 223.5 (-115) because there’s been a sharp line move towards the Over as the look-ahead total for Hawks-Bulls was 220.5 but has been steamed up.
More importantly, the assigned officiating crew for this game has a combined 39-33 O/U record. That matters because both teams’ leading scorers like to get to the charity stripe, and if these refs generally officiate more Overs then perhaps there’ll be more free-throw attempts in this game.
However, I can only “LEAN” to the OVER 223.5 (-115) since we are getting the worst of the number.
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