Bulls Favored Over Hawks in Opening Odds for Play-In Game
By Jovan Alford
The Chicago Bulls wrapped up the 2023-24 regular season with a 120-119 loss to the New York Knicks. Things have not gone to plan for the Bulls, who ended the regular season with a 39-43 record.
However, Chicago will have at least one more game this season as they will face the Atlanta Hawks in the Play-In Tournament on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET. The Bulls locked in the No. 9 seed on Thursday night with a 127-105 road win over the Detroit Pistons.
The opening odds for Wednesday night’s game have the Bulls as 3.5-point home favorites on FanDuel Sportsbook. The Bulls are also -156 on the moneyline, while the Hawks are +132, with the total sitting at O/U 219.5 points.
The Hawks and Bulls expected to play better than they did this season, but both teams dealt with some injuries and struggled to play consistent basketball. Atlanta enters the postseason on a seven-game losing streak, while Chicago has won two out of their last three games.
The Bulls won two of three regular-season matchups against the Hawks, winning both games at the United Center. Chicago is familiar with the play-in tournament as they defeated the Toronto Raptors in the 9/10 matchup last year and lost the eighth-seed play-in game by 11 points to the Miami Heat.
For the Bulls to keep their season alive Wednesday, they will need the trio of DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, and Coby White to carry them.
This season against Atlanta, DeRozan is averaging 28.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. As for Vucevic, he’s producing 14.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game.
Finally, White has been the biggest x-factor for the Bulls, who scored a career-high 19.9 points per game on 44.4 percent shooting from the field and 37.8 percent from deep.
The 24-year-old guard hasn’t shot the ball well from three against the Hawks this season (15.8 percent). However, White still produced 20.3 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game.
The Hawks have struggled down the stretch and are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA (120.1 points per game allowed) this season. However, it’s hard to count them out when you face the backcourt duo of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, who need one good game to pull off the upset.
If Bulls fans want to put down a wager on Wednesday night's game, check out FanDuel Sportsbook. New users who sign up through this link, need to put down an initial bet of $5 and will receive $150 in bonus bets, win or lose!
More Bulls news and analysis:
feed
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change