Zach LaVine’s return has sparked a bit of a run by the Chicago Bulls who are 4-2 SU in their last 6 games. They’ll conclude a mini 3-game road trip tonight in Canada as they take on the Toronto Raptors, a team they’ve played really well against in recent meetings. Chicago is 9-4 SU in the last 13 games head-to-head, combine that with the fact that Toronto is playing on a 2nd night of a back-to-back and you have the Bulls as 2.5-point favorites here. This team is 11-7 SU in games played when they’re the favorite, however the road form isn’t exactly encouraging at 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games. At the Scotiabank Arena they’ve covered the spread only once in 5 visits. One key stat to consider before betting on this game is the Raptors three-point defense – they’re allowing teams to shoot 38.5% from downtown this season, so I doubt we’ll see the Bulls score only 9 threes in this game like they did in the loss to Cleveland the other day.
Toronto made headlines once again as they traded away the last remaining piece of the 2019 championship team Pascal Siakam. The experienced wingman was shipped to Indiana in exchange for picks and Bruce Brown Jr., in an effort to clear cap space but also shake things up for a team that’s just 16-25 SU this season. It definitely worked last night as Toronto destroyed Miami 121-97 to go back to .500 in home games at 10-10 SU. And this is where the issue lies ahead of tonight’s game. The Raptors have played in this scenario 7 times this season have just 2 wins, losing even to the likes of Detroit which is the worst team in the NBA. Since acquiring him from New York, R.J. Barrett has put up solid numbers, but it might take some time for this team and it’s new players to gel together.
