Chicago Bulls at Boston Celtics
Time: 6 PM CST (ESPN)
Spread: BOS -2.5
Total: 201
Betting odds c/o Bovada
The 12-9 Boston Celtics won 45 games last year, and if things continue at their current pace much the same will be the outcome of this year. The Celtics have won three of its past four games and find itself 2.5-point favorites over the visiting Chicago Bulls.
Click HERE to see live NBA odds from major bookmakers!
The Celtics are a uniquely talented team on the defensive end of the court, largely due to Brad Stevens but also factoring in is the team’s personnel. Jae Crowder has emerged as one of the league’s top defensive talents, both non-statistically and in his averaging 2.1 steals per game (No. 5 in the NBA).
But Crowder is just one component of a trapping defense that also relies on guards Avery Bradley and the injured Marcus Smart. With such an effective rotation of guards, it scarcely matters when the Celtics play leading scorer 5’9” Isaiah Thomas.
Thomas came to Boston last season in a trade deadline deal, and he has been dynamite since then. He is averaging 21 points, 6.3 assists and 1.67 steals per game, while posting a team-high PER of 22.9. While drafted last overall in his draft class, he has gone on to be one of the top players of the 2011 draft. He has scored 20 or more in four of Boston’s last five games, and last time out against the New Orleans Hornets the diminutive playmaker hit 9 of 13 from the field for 22 points while also dropping five dimes in the contest.
Much is made of Thomas’ scoring abilities, but he is a top-notch distributor as well, having recorded three games prior to the Pels contest with eight or nine assists in each game.
Even the once-thought one-dimensional Bradley has become a significant source of offense. Bradley has diversified his game and his offensive repertoire and is averaging 16.2 points per game this season, to go along with 2.00 steals/blocks per game. His best defensive contributions cannot really be measured on a statistical basis, as an outstanding defender who is not prone to over-gambling (something that Rajon Rondo did which weakened the C’s more than helped them).
Crowder is one of four Celtics averaging in double figures with the other being forward Jared Sullinger, another second round pick. “Sully” is averaging 10.3 points, 9.4 rebounds and a steal per game. He is cut in the mold of a Carlos Boozer and looks to be a double-double threat for the rest of his NBA career.
Rounding out the rotation are Evan Turner, Kelly Olynyk and Amir Johnson who signed as a free agent in the offseason. Turner is a well-rounded guard but is not a good shooter, hitting just 40 percent from the floor and 15 percent from three-point range.
Even so, he is a good sub off the bench because he can get the second unit going, even if he is not an efficient source of offense himself. Olynyk is a tough court stretching center and Johnson is another defensive minded player who is good for a team-high 1.2 blocks per game.
Chicago is struggling, at least held to the standards the team had achieved under past coach Tom Thibodeau. The Bulls are just 11-7 this season and dropped their past two games to the Phoenix Suns and Charlotte Hornets, both squads the Bulls should have ideally knocked off.
Jimmy Butler has been stellar once again on both ends of the court, but beyond Butler are a host of underachieving talents, not the least of which are Pau Gasol (who said he is leaving after this season) and Derrick Rose. Rose is somewhat less surprising given his incessant battles with nagging injuries (all related to his ACL tear, perhaps save the orbital fracture), but Gasol is posting just 14 points and 10 rebounds per game after having one of his best career seasons in 2014-15. He is still posting a PER of 21.2, but that is not really indicative of great play.
Pau’s numbers are considerably more hollow. Rose meanwhile has been so inefficient that he has a PER of 10.0 and it is a reflection of his abysmal 35 percent field goal percentage and also averaging 2.3 turnovers in 33 minutes per game.
The Bulls need to get back on track, but it will not be easy against a Celtics team that is so stringent on the defensive end while also being the home team. The line is set 2.5-points in favor of Boston, but prudent bettors will see the Celtics have a good chance at obliterating this spread given the poor recent play of the Bulls and also the fact that the Celtics play Chicago’s game style, just better.
