Chicago Bulls vs Boston Celtics Predictions

Two solid defensive efforts in consecutive games have earned the Chicago Bulls two wins in a row and now they head to Boston in hopes of winning their 3rd straight. Can the Celtics improve on their 4-3 record after losing a tough one in Cleveland? Tip-off is set for 7.30 pm ET on ESPN.

Chicago actually beat the Celtics earlier this season 120-102, but playing them on the road will be a much harder task as they’ve won just twice in the last 8 meetings at TD Garden. They will continue to be without Lonzo Ball and Andre Drummond, while Coby White is doubtful as he recovers from a quad issue. Chicago might miss Drummond a bit here as he had 12 boards in the win over Boston earlier this season, but they still have their chances. Both DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine are playing at a high level, Nikola Vucevic looks to repeat his 18 points and 23 rebound performance from the 1st meeting of the season. The Bulls enter the night as 7-point underdogs, they’ve covered the spread in the last 5 of 6 meetings with the Celtics.

Boston’s biggest let down so far this season has been their defense. They currently rank only 19th in adjusted defensive rating and a bit reason for that has been their rebounding. At the moment only 3 teams in the entire NBA average less rebounds per game than the Celtics at 50 a night, I just can’t see how they fix this issue until Robert Williams returns from injury. In their latest loss to Cleveland they did win the rebounding battle just barely, but in the end they fell short after a sub-par shooting night from the entire team. The cs are just 2-4 ATS in their last 6 games vs Eastern Conference teams, but the good news is outside of Danilo Gallinari and Robert Williams they have no lingering injuries on the team.

After a less than impressive start to the season, it’s hard for me to back the Celtics to dominate here. They will probably win, but I’m expecting a close game, so backing the Bulls to cover is the way to go here.

The first meeting of the season finished with a combined total of 222 points which is just in line with tonight’s projected total of 223 points. With that said, I think the Celtics will make their adjustments here and put in a lot more effort on the defensive side of the ball. That’s been the scenario in 6 of the last 8 meetings between these two teams as the under has cashed.

The Bulls also tend to slow things down on the road, their last 8 of 11 games have all gone under the total, and I fancy those trends to continue tonight after seeing them hold their last two opponents to just 88 and 99 points. Both teams rank in the bottom half of the NBA in terms of pace, the Celtics are only 26th averaging 99.7 possessions per game. Combine that with Chicago being 7th in the league in defensive efficiency, I think tonight’s game has the under written all over it.

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