The NBA Playoffs continue on Friday night and we will see the Cleveland Cavaliers travel to the United Center to take on the Chicago Bulls in game 3 of their best-of-seven series. Free Pick to follow. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas betting odds have Chicago listed as 1.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 196.
Analysis: The Cavs were probably the best team in the East during the 2nd half of the NBA season and they started out the playoffs with a 4-0 sweep vs the Celtics, but then they took it on the chin in game 1 of this series as the Bulls Pulled the upset. Well on Wednesday night the Cavs got their revenge, winning by 15 in a game that really wasn't that close. Now the scene shifts to Chicago and the Cavs have gone 24-19 on the road this year. Cleveland has gone 5-1 ATS in their last 6 road games vs. a team with a winning home record, but just 5-13 ATS the last 18 meetings in the series. The Cavaliers have been a solid offensive team on the road this year, scoring 102.8 ppg on 44.8% shooting overall and 34.4% shooting from long range. Defensively on the road the Cavs have allowed 101.0 ppg on 47% shooting overall and 32.9% shooting from long range.
Despite the fact that the Bulls struggled with Milwaukee in round 1 and the fact that they lost game 2 by 15, this is still a dangerous bulls squad, especially since they are healthier. They did win game one of this series, but the Cavs were without Kevin Love and JR Smith. Now the Cavs will just be without Love, but the Bulls did go 29-15 at home and beat Cleveland here by a 113-98 score in Mid-February. The Bulls have gone 8-1 ATS in their last 9 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game, but just 2-8 ATS in their last 10 home games following a road trip of 7 or more days. Chicago has scored 101.4 ppg on 43.7% shooting overall and 34.4% from long range at home this year. Defensively they have been solid at home, allowing just 97.0 pg on 42.8% shooting overall and 33.4% shooting from long range.
Pick: I am going with the under in this game. Both games so far have been on Over paces through 3 quarters, but both games also saw very low scoring quarters. In game 1 the Game stayed under the Total and in game 2 it took a late meaningless 3-ball in the final 10 seconds to put the game over the total, even though just 197 points were scored in that game. Now the scene shifts back to Chicago. where their games game be a bit low scoring and that is mainly because they play such great defense on their home floor, where they have allowed just 97 ppg on just 42.8% shooting and the Cavs are not a good shooting team on the road, where they have hit just 44.8% of their shots. The Under is 6-1 in the Bulls last 7 games following a SU loss, plus we note that the Bulls have allowed just 90 pg in their last 5 games, while the Cavs have allowed just 93.8 ppg over the same stretch. I see plenty of defense in this one.
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NBA Free Pick: How To Bet Bulls vs Cavaliers
What Pro basketball bettors need to know about betting the series in the Chicago Bulls/ Cleveland Cavaliers series - a free pick from Pregame.com's Steve Fezzik with added insight from Teddy Covers.