NBA Basketball Betting: Toronto Raptors at Chicago Bulls

Added on Apr 02, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

More Saturday NBA basketball action serves up an Eastern Conference matchup between a potential NBA championship contender and a definite draft lottery contender. The East leading Chicago Bulls host the woeful Toronto Raptors at the United Center. Chicago is 32-5 SU at home while Toronto is 6-31 SU on the road.

Toronto Raptors at Chicago Bulls
April 2, 2011 5:05 PM Pacific

Obviously the Bulls are almost certain to win this game SU making the salient question the Raptors’ ability to cover the pointspread. Given the current form of the teams we’re not particularly optimistic about Toronto’s chances of keeping this one close. The Bulls are cruising having won 17 of their last 20 games going 14-6 ATS. Toronto has lost 5 straight and 13 of their last 18 going 7-11 ATS. The Raptors did upset the Bulls at the Air Canada Centre in late February making this a ‘revenge spot’ for Chicago but the Bulls won and covered the other two head to head matchups this year.

Toronto hasn’t exactly distinguished themselves with inspired in the second half of the season. This year they’ve gone 3-10 SU/4-11 ATS against winning teams in the second half of the season but this tendency goes back several years–since 2008 they’re 11-35 SU/15-30-1 ATS. And the Bulls? They’re 13-3 SU/11-5 ATS against losing teams since mid-season. Bulls played in Detroit last night but they’re 11-8 ATS in the second of back to back games. The Raptors are all offense/no defense and that just doesn’t work against Chicago’s suffocating ‘D’–against good offensive teams (defined as an average of 99+ PPG) are 23-9 ATS this season covering 9 of their last 13 spots. Throw in a 18-10 ATS record in ‘revenge’ spots and the pressure exerted by the Miami Heat just 2.5 games back in the Eastern Conference and this has all the makings of a rout. Raptors 5-10 SU/ATS against the Central Division this year and don’t catch any breaks from Chicago’s schedule situation–Bulls have 3 days off before a game against a slumping Phoenix team that also plays good offense/bad defense and 5 days off before their next real challenge when they host the Boston Celtics. This means that the Raptors are going to get Chicago’s best shot and that’s bad news for a struggling team.

Bet Chicago Bulls -14 over Toronto Raptors