Toronto Raptors vs. Chicago Bulls Spread: NBA Odds, Prediction
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Charlie Grant
Kris Dunn and the raging Bulls are beating the books with their crazy ATS success over the last 15 games. The Raptors hope to slow Chicago’s momentum down and collect their third win this season against team from the Windy City.
NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Raptors won in overtime against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night but failed to cover as 6-point home favourites. Toronto is 25-10 straight up and 20-15 against the spread for the campaign. Chicago lost in overtime 124-120 to the Portland Trail Blazers on New Year’s Day and failed to cover as a 2.5-point favourite. It was just the second loss against the spread in the Bulls’ last 15 games. Chicago is 13-24 SU and 22-14-1 ATS on the season.
The road has not been kind to the Dinos this season as nine of their 10 losses have come away from Toronto. Chicago is 9-1 against the number in its last 10 games against the Raptors.
Toronto Raptors
Toronto’s starting shooting guard appears to be getting more and more confident firing away from behind the 3-point line. Twenty of DeMar DeRozan’s 37 makes from 3-point land have come in his last seven games including five on Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Raptors are fourth in the league in 3-point attempts but 25th in 3-point shooting percentage. This could be a major area of team improvement if DeRozan to shoot closer to 40 percent rather than his career average (28.8).
Serge Ibaka’s defense was clutch against the Bucks. He swatted away Giannis Antetokounmpo late in the game with Milwaukee looking to take a six-point lead. Ibaka is 12th in the league in blocks per game (1.48) but he’s averaging 1.6 per game over his last 19 games.
Chicago Bulls
Kris Dunn and Nikola Mirotic are the two players most responsible for the Bulls’ recent surge. The team won 10 of 14 games after going 3-20 in its first 23 games. Mirotic made his season debut in Game 1 of the winning streak and has stoked the Chicago fire with his hot shooting from deep. He’s shooting 46.6 percent from distance and making almost three triples a night.
Dunn, meanwhile, is showing signs he can be a force with the ball in his hands and not just defending opposing point guards. The second-year guard averaged 8.0 assists against just 2.6 turnovers per game in the month of December.
