NBA Betting Odds – Hawks at Bulls

The upstart Atlanta Hawks visit the Chicago Bulls at the United Center, at 8 PM ET tonight in a must win match for both squads.

NBA Betting Odds:
Atlanta Hawks +8.5
Chicago Bulls -8.5
O/U 181

Atlanta is coming off an amazing win on Sunday but aren’t taking it for granted considering they need to steal a game in Chicago if they want to continue on to the Eastern Conference finals.

The Hawks will try to focus on rotating the ball and get everybody involved as they did in the victory 100-88 on Sunday.  Josh Smith, Al Horford and Joe Johnson all scored 20+ points in a balanced game.  Point guard Jeff Teague showed great energy on the court, even though it didn’t translate to the score card.

Defensively Atlanta’s scheme was to stop every other player but Derrick Rose and closing his driving lanes thus leaving only outside shots.  Rose attempted 32 shots from the field but only managed to score 12  with a final tally of 34 points.  

Dropping game 5 would really put the Bulls on thin ice because even though they  have the best away record on the league, the team still too young to face an elimination game in the road

Take a look at these NBA betting trends:

ATLANTA is:

• 11-3 ATS off win by 10 or more as an underdog
• 24-22 ATS in road games
• 7-3 ATS in all playoff games

CHICAGO:

• 7-0 Under revenging road loss by 10 or more
• 12-3 ATS off a upset loss as a favorite
• 13-8 ATS against Southeast division opponents

Simmons’ NBA Betting pick: Take the Bulls to cover.