The season started off messy for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who began 4-6 and had to deal with various injuries to key players.
However, that ship has sailed as Cleveland is currently the hottest team in the NBA by winning 17 of its last 19 games to move into first place of the Central Division at 35-17 and second overall in the Eastern Conference.
Coming off a rare loss in the new year, the Cavaliers welcome in the Chicago Bulls for a division showdown at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Wednesday night.
Bulls vs. Cavaliers odds
- Spread: Bulls + 9.5 (-114), Cavaliers -9.5 (-106)
- Total: Over 222.5 (-106), Under 222.5 (-114)
- Moneyline: Bulls +330, Cavaliers -420
Odds via FanDuel
The Bulls have won three of their last four games to move to 26-28 and get into Play-In Tournament territory in the East.
Chicago has won two of its first three contests on a four-game road trip. In Monday’s 136-126 victory at Atlanta, DeMar DeRozan and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 29 points for the Bulls, who have cashed the over in six consecutive games.
Cleveland was riding a nine-game winning streak prior to Monday’s 123-121 home setback to Philadelphia as an 11.5-point favorite. Donovan Mitchell continued his monster season by scoring 36 points in the loss, while moving his points-per-game average to 27.8, which ranks fourth in the league.
The Cavs have won six straight meetings with the Bulls since the start of the 2022-23 campaign. Cleveland’s two victories this season over Chicago both came by double digits and stayed under the total.
Although Chicago struggled to score against Cleveland earlier this season, the Bulls have put up points of late by topping the 115-point mark in five of the last six games.
Let’s go with the over between the Bulls and Cavaliers. Make sure to shop around since there’s a wide disparity between sportsbooks. BetMGM and PointsBet have the lowest totals as of this writing at 221.5 points.
Pick: Over 221.5 points (-115 at BetMGM)