Will the Cavaliers get their third win in a row against the Bulls?
The Cavaliers host the Chicago Bulls on Monday night. Cleveland is favored at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, as JB Bickerstaff’s team has won 80% of its home games this season.
The visitors are not without their chances, however, as the team has won seven of 18 away games. If we look at the betting odds before the duel between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls, however, the bookmakers seem to be leaning more towards a home win. However, the odds are not very far apart after the close game a few days ago.
This is probably because the Cavaliers have lost three of their last five games and are also on two home losses in a row. The Bulls have three wins in the same period and have even won their last three away games.
In terms of the standings, the hosts are clearly stronger, but the momentum is more with the guests. For this reason, it is not surprising that the odds between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls are closer together than the table constellation would suggest.
The host recently came away with a 103-102 win over the Chicago Bulls. There are less than 48 hours between that game and the upcoming duel. It is therefore not unlikely that a similar game will develop.
We therefore recommend the following tip between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls. In their own stadium, the home-strong Cavs should once again walk off the court victorious. In addition, in games involving Cleveland, only a few baskets are scored, so we combine the win bet with under 222.5 points.
Cleveland Cavaliers – Statistics & current form
Cleveland is currently in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and is one of the top teams from the East. JB Bickerstaff’s team won 23 games this season and lost 14 times. Last season, the Cavaliers narrowly missed making the NBA playoffs. After the regular season, the team was in eighth place, but then failed to prevail in the play-in tournament against Brooklyn and Atlanta. This year, most experts expect the team to improve and make the playoffs. Currently, Cleveland is on a very good path.
Caris LeVert challenged in Garland’s absence
The Cavaliers’ shooting guard is also very likely to play in the upcoming game against the Bulls. Darius Garland is also questionable for the upcoming game, but is very unlikely to play, according to consistent media reports. That leaves Cleveland without its second-leading scorer behind Donovan Mitchell. LeVert is a good replacement and scored 23 points in the win against the Bulls. That made him the top scorer for both teams. He is thus up to the task and will once again be one of the Cavs’ key players.
The best defence in the NBA
The Cavaliers boast the best defence in the entire National Basketball Association. Cleveland’s players allow an average of just 106.2 points and held Chicago to just 102 two days ago. On the offensive end, however, coach JB Bickerstaff’s team is one of the weakest in the NBA, ranking 26th with 111.2 points per game. That’s largely due to the Cavaliers’ style of play, which likes to slow down and run down the shot clock. They are also missing a key offensive player in Garland.
Injured List:
Darius Garland – Game Time Decision
Evan Mobley – Game Time Decision
Ricky Rubio – Out
Dean White – Out
Dyland Windler – Out
Starting Five of the Cleveland Cavaliers:
SG: Donovan Mitchell – SG: Caris LeVert – PF: Evan Mobley (GTD) – PF: Kevin Love – C: Jarrett Allen
Chicago Bulls – Statistics & current form
Chicago are currently in eleventh place in the Eastern Conference and would therefore not qualify for the Play-In-Tournament. The season is still long and therefore the current ranking is not a reason for concern, but to enter the NBA playoffs, the Bulls should step it up a notch. Billy Donovan’s team could only win 16 of the 36 games and that is simply too little. With a win in Cleveland, his team could jump to tenth place. But that’s easier said than done after Chicago recently lost out to the Cavs.
Zach LaVine in a creative crisis
The Bulls shooting guard is playing his weakest season since 2018, averaging 22.6 points and not matching his performances of previous years. But he’s not the only one who can’t live up to expectations this season. DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic are also not at their best. In addition, Lonzo Ball is missing another player who could cause trouble. It is therefore not surprising that Chicago averages only 113.8 points and finds itself only in the midfield in this statistic. The season so far has thus been thoroughly disappointing.
Lights and shadows with the Chicago Bulls
Clearly there is a lack of consistency, because while Billy Donovan’s team plays very strongly at times, in some games hardly anything goes. This is also evident in the statistical area, as neither the offensive nor the defensive numbers are positive. In both areas, the Bulls are in the midfield. This also applies to the categories of rebounds and assists. Especially the second line has big problems to keep up the score of the starting five. Now a number of injuries are added to the mix, which doesn’t make it any easier.
Injured List:
Marko Simonovic – Game Time Decision
Derrick Jones – Game Time Decision
Malcolm Hill – Game Time Decision
Javonte Green – Game Time Decision
Alex Caruso – Game Time Decision
Tony Bradley – Game Time Decision
Lonzo Ball – Out
Starting Five of the Chicago Bulls:
SF: DeMar DeRozan – SG: Zach Lavine – SG: Ayo Dosunmu – PF: Patrick Williams – C: Nikola Vucevic
Cleveland Cavaliers – Chicago Bulls Head-to-head comparison / H2H record
The direct comparison between the two teams clearly goes to the visitors. Chicago stands at 96 wins against Cleveland, while the Cavaliers could only win 69 games. However, the Cavs won the last two duels.
One duel was a day ago and the other took place at the end of December. So the host knows how to beat the Bulls this season. For this reason, our prediction between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls goes in the direction of the home team. However, the last encounter shows that we can expect a very close game.
Cleveland Cavaliers – Chicago Bulls Tip
Looking at the odds before the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls game, a home win seems very likely. The hosts are very strong at home and have already defeated their opponents twice this season.
Due to the many injuries on both sides, an exciting match seems likely. The form of the last weeks and also the good performances away from home speak for a victory of the guests. It is therefore difficult to predict who will win this match, although our tendency is more in the direction of the home team.
As a winner is difficult to predict, we play the betting on under 227.5 points between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls. The visitors from Chicago will once again cut their teeth on the best defence in the NBA.
The Cavs are also rather weak on the offensive end and will not put up a high-scoring game, especially without Darius Garland. At Betano, the bookmaker we tested, the odds for this line are 1.60. In none of the last six duels would this bet have been lost and on average only 207 points were scored.
