Milwaukee Bucks vs Chicago Bulls betting tips and predictions for Wednesday’s NBA Eastern Conference Playoff game on TNT. After a scrappy win in Game 1, the defending champions Bucks look to take full control of their series against the Chicago Bulls as the two teams meet again at Fiserv Forum tonight. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Milwaukee Bucks
Entering Game 1 the Bucks were 10 point favourites at home, but they didn’t play for a few days after the regular season and it showed. It wasn’t pretty to watch as both the Bulls and Bucks struggled to score the basketball. Milwaukee shot just 40% from the field and 26% from three-point land, but the most important thing is they got the win in the series opener. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way with 27 points and 16 rebounds while Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday didn’t have the most efficient of games.
Once again the Bucks are 10 point favourites at home tonight, they are now just 16-26 ATS in home games this year. They’ve beaten the Bulls in 9 of the last 10 meetings, they are also 12-1 SU in their last 13 games vs Eastern Conference opponents, so even if they fail to cover tonight I still see them winning the game.
Chicago Bulls
DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine combined to shoot just 21-for-71 in Game 1 and yet the Bulls lost the game by just 7 points. They got off to a slow start and trailed by 13 points after the 1st quarter, ultimately that is what decided the game as they could never recover. Knowing how well the Bulls have played offensively all season long, I think it’s pretty safe to say they won’t shoot 32% from the field and 18% from three-point land in Game 2.
You won’t find many people that picked them to win this series, without a healthy Lonzo Ball they are lacking options on defence to stop the loaded Bucks. So the game plan will be to outscore the opponent tonight, but after 5 games during the regular season and playoffs they are 0-5 SU against this team, so optimism is at a low right now for Bulls fans.
Playoff games tend to be a lot closer than regular season games, we saw just that in Game 1. I think that could be the case tonight as well, but it’s hard to look past the Bucks winning this one. I guess Chicago could keep it somewhat close, so even if they lose by 8 or 9 points they still cover the spread here. Go with the road team and the extra points.
Milwaukee Bucks vs Chicago Bulls Predictions & Odds
The Bulls are yet to score 100 points in games at the Fiserv Forum this season. In the 2 meetings during the regular season they ended up scoring 90 and 98, Game 1 was their lowest output so far with just 86. At some point that has to change, DeRozan and LaVine are both all-star worthy offensive players and they’ll figure it out eventually. The bulls have gone over in 5 of their last 7 games, while the Bucks have done so in 6 of their last 7.
I’m also expecting the tempo to pick up a bit in Game 2 after a slugfest in the series opener. Milwaukee does rank 7th in the pace of play averaging 102.2 possessions per game, while the Bulls are 17th. When it comes to offensive efficiency, the Bucks rank 3rd in the NBA while the Bulls are 11th, I think we’ll see that on full display in tonight’s game. These 2 teams finished with the 14th and 23rd ranked defensive efficiencies, so if their shooting approves even slightly compared to Game 1 we could be in for a high scoring affair here. Let’s go with the over.
