The Atlanta Hawks will take on the Eastern Conference rival Chicago Bulls Thursday evening as both teams make their return from the All-Star break. Chicago was represented by Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, while Atlanta sent Trae Young to the event.
Chicago’s 38-21 record is tied for the best mark in the Eastern Conference; Atlanta, a participant in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, is down in 10th place at 28-30.
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are one of the best stories of this year’s NBA season; they have lost nearly every member of their rotation to injury or COVID protocols for at least a small portion of the campaign, yet have managed to stay afloat as one of the premier teams in the conference.
Lonzo Ball is still injured, but the trio of Derozan, LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic are enough to trouble every team in the league; Chicago also has one of the better benches in the league and is full of guys that play hard and like they have something to prove.
The Bulls are still not widely considered to be a championship contender, but they have undoubtedly been a top-five team in the league through the first stretch of the season. If they can close out the final 20-something games and get key players back from injury, they should be able to mount a championship bid.
Atlanta Hawks
Much to the opposite of the Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks appeared to be on the rise after nearly reaching the NBA Finals last year, only to fall down to 10th in the East this season, one spot away from missing the play-in tournament.
Trae Young has been phenomenal and deserves MVP consideration despite his squad’s losing record. The rest of the roster is inconsistent at best, which is the major reason for the team’s struggles this year. Players like John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Clint Capela come and go, and with injuries to DeAndre Hunter and a trade of Cam Reddish, it is hard to know what to expect from the Hawks on a nightly basis.
With all of that being said, the Hawks can get seriously hot when they are on, and that is when they look like a conference championship contender. If they can re-find the chemistry they had in last year’s postseason, they will be a credible threat to every team in the East.
Betting Odds
The Chicago Bulls head into the meeting a -3.5 (-110) favorites, while the Hawks are +3.5 (-110).
The points total has been set at 234.5 with (-110) odds on the over and under.
Betting Pick
The Chicago Bulls are the fourth-best team in the league against the spread this season and should be able to continue this trend coming out of the All-Star break. Their trio of stars will be well-rested and feeling like this is the year that they can finally make something great happen, which should be enough motivation to get past an inferior opponent.
