NBA playoff betting players will flash back to last year when they realize that Chicago is in the postseason, as the Bulls battled Boston to an epic seven-game first-round series that featured seven periods of overtime. The Bulls will try to recreate that form when they head to Cleveland on Saturday afternoon for Game 1 against the Cavaliers, who have been waiting for the postseason to start since last year's disappointing loss to Orlando in the conference finals.
Bulls vs Cavaliers odds – Saturday, April 17, 3:00 PM ET
The Bulls stormed into the playoffs, taking the final spot in the East by winning four of their last five games, including a must-win in Toronto. Their best players, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, stepped up in the face of pressure, as Rose averaged 28.2 points and 7.0 assists in those five games, with Noah chipping in 16.2 points and 14.4 rebounds, but he is at the middle of a scandal that threatens to overshadow the Bulls' playoff run. Coach Vinny Del Negro and president John Paxson reportedly got into a physical altercation over Noah's minutes while coming back from a foot injury, which should stamp Del Negro's ticket out of Chicago, and that could hurt the Bulls' NBA championship odds.
The Cavaliers have lost four in a row to end the season, but they sat LeBron James for those games, so the losses didn't tell us anything we didn't know: LeBron James is a player that can win games for you. The likely MVP played 39 minutes a night, so he deserved his rest, and he's focused on nothing else but a championship. He'll have Shaquille O'Neal back in the lineup after a thumb injury kept him in street clothes for more than a month, and his championship experience is key to the Cavaliers' NBA odds.
The Cavaliers will be favored in this contest, even though the Bulls took one in Cleveland earlier this year at the beginning of the season. The Cavs led the NBA with 35 wins at home, and they'll be up for this game. The Cavaliers know they have to stop Rose, as most of the Chicago offense is built around his ability to get to the hoop. On the other side, the Bulls know they have to contain James, which is pretty unlikely, especially in front of his fans at "The Q" (QuickenLoans Arena), but he actually scored almost three points less at home. He made up for it with 1.1 more assists per game, and many people don't realize that he finished sixth in the NBA in assists. The Cavaliers should have this sportsbook win in the bag by the end of the third quarter.
