Will LaVine be convincing against the Pacers again?
With the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers, two rivals in the lower midfield of the Eastern Conference are facing each other. The game is therefore about a particularly important victory from the point of view of both teams in the fight for a place in the Play-in Tournament in the East.
The home side can rely on home advantage because the visitors are very weak away from home. They have won only ten of 31 away games so far and only Charlotte and Detroit have been less successful away from home in the Eastern Conference.
Chicago Bulls – Statistics & current form
Chicago, unlike their opponents, have to play a “half” back-to-back as the Bulls still faced the Phoenix Suns on the night before last. In the contest with the basketballers from Arizona, the six-time champions recorded a clear defeat with a 21-point difference.
Head coach Billy Donovan and team have also faced the Pacers three times this season. A win in the first meeting in front of their own fans at the United Center was followed by two losses in Indiana in January and last month. Both defeats were close, however, as they came by a maximum difference of six points.
Indiana Pacers – statistics & current form
The Pacers have been inconsistent of late: Within the form table for the past ten games, the visitors have only three wins – only the Detroit Pistons played even weaker during this review in the East with one win.
In addition, Indy recently lost to the Spurs from San Antonio, who are in second-to-last place in the Western Conference. Tyrese Haliburton, the franchise’s best player from Indianapolis, had to miss this game. It is not yet clear whether the NBA’s second most successful assister will return to the squad against the Bulls.
Chicago Bulls – Indiana Pacers Tip
In the clash between the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers, the prediction and odds on more than 25.5 points by Zach LaVine are worth considering. The shooting guard of the home side is currently in particularly good form.
In four of the past games, he exceeded the selected limit in points and recorded an average of 28.8 points in this flashback. Furthermore, the upcoming opponent suits him. As can be seen from the fact that in only one of the three season duels with Indiana so far has he not contributed at least 28 points for the Bulls.
Moreover, the Pacers have been shaky of late and are chronically weak away from home – third worst away record in the Eastern Conference. In view of these points, there is not much standing in the way of another successful scoring record for LaVine from this point of view.
