Bulls vs. Raptors Point Spread: NBA Odds, Prediction
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Charlie Grant
It’s been a painful few weeks for Toronto backers but a matchup against the rebuilding Chicago Bulls could be a late holiday payout. The Raptors seek to regain their spot at the top of the Eastern Conference by putting their recent cold streak behind them.
NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Chicago is 3-1 straight up and against the spread over its last four games. That means three of the Bulls’ 10 wins this season have come in the last 10 days. The club is one of the best Under bets in the NBA with a 12-23-1 Over/Under mark.
The Under is 7-3 in Chicago’s last 10 games but 2-8 in the last 10 meetings between these two teams. The Over is 21-16 in Toronto’s first 37 games this season but 1-3 in its last four.
The Raptors are still considered to be one of the most likely teams to win the NBA championship, but their regular season performance is costing their supporters a lot of cash. Toronto is 16-21 ATS and Sports Interaction lists the squad at +585 to win the NBA title. Only the Golden State Warriors have shorter odds to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Chicago Bulls
The Dinos chewed up the Bulls 122-83 when the two sides met at the end of last month, but a lot has changed in the Windy City since then. Chicago has a new head coach (Jim Boylen) and the team has taken Jabari Parker out of the lineup and replaced him with Lauri Markkanen.
The second-year Finnish forward has made a smart frontcourt pairing with rookie big man Wendell Carter Jr. Each player’s skill set seems to complement the other’s. Markkanen’s seemingly unlimited range has opened up some room down low for Carter to operate in the paint.
The duo combined for 31 points and 27 rebounds in the Bulls’ win over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
Toronto Raptors
Nick Nurse was promoted to head coach after the Raptors parted Dwayne Casey because of Nurse’s work to improve the club’s offence. The Drakes finished with No. 2 offence a year ago and got off to a great start this fall.
But things have changed over the last few weeks. The Raptors are scoring just 106.7 points per 100 possessions over their last eight games. Twenty NBA teams rank above them in offence over the same eight-game sample.
The return of Kyle Lowry could do a lot to improve the offence. The All-Star point guard is questionable to play against Chicago because of the same back injury that’s kept him out of the lineup in the Raps’ last two games.
