Year: 2015

NBA Gambling: Cleveland vs Chicago

The Cleveland Cavaliers (33-21) play the Chicago Bulls (33-20) in the only NBA game tonight before the All-Star Weekend break. As always, visit Cappers Picks daily for our free NBA picks all season long.

What a game we have on tap before the break!

NBA Free Prediction

Cavs vs Bulls
When: Thursday, Feb 12th 2015 at 8:05pm ET
Where: United Center
TV: TNT
NBA Gambling Line: Cavaliers –1
NBA Gambling O/U Line: 199.5 Points
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I’m excited to watch these two top teams in the East go at it tonight on TNT. Both teams come into this game on small winning streaks, but someone has to lose.

Chicago has won three in a row, but they’re just 6-4 in their last 10 games. The Cavaliers have won two in a row and they’re on an incredible 9-1 run in their last 10 games, which has moved them to 4th in the East.

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The Cavaliers have been poor on the road (12-12) all season, but the Bulls are worse at home (14-11) than they are on the road (19-9) this season. Those home/away splits have to improve for Chicago.

Kevin Love is questionable and no word has come out on him yet, but it definitely wouldn’t surprise me if he sat out this game with the All-Star break coming up, as the Cavs don’t want to take any risks with him.

Jimmy Butler and Kirk Hinrich are both confirmed to be out tonight for the Bulls. Losing Hinrich isn’t a big deal, but losing your top scorer and defender isn’t good news when you’re going up against Cleveland.

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Butler averages 20.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 3.2 APG and 1.84 SPG on the season. That production isn’t going to be made up by replacement. It’ll be on the big guys (Rose, Gasol and Noah) to produce big tonight.

With Butler out the Bulls really don’t have any answer for Lebron James. James comes into this match-up averaging 25.8 PPG, 7.4 APG, 5.6 RPG and 1.5 SPG. Dunleavy has no chance at shutting down James.

On paper these two teams are posting acceptable numbers, but far from what they’re capable of. The Bulls rank 10th in scoring (102.0 PPG), 13th in points allowed (99.1 PPG) and 3rd in rebounds (45.5 RPG).

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Cleveland scores 102.2 PPG (9th), allows 99.1 PPG (12th) and averages 42.7 RPG (18th). Chicago will have a considerable edge on the glass in this game and they need to take advantage of that to stand a chance.

Free NBA Picks: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Chicago Bulls

These teams have played each other twice this season with the Cavs winning 114-108 in OT on the road and 108-94 at home. They easily covered the point spread both times and I expect that trend to continue.

Cleveland Cavaliers –1

James will have a monster game before the break and even if Love sits it won’t be a huge problem. I’ve been impressed with Thompson and he’d be the one who’d get the nod at PF if Love ends up sitting.

Check out our Updated NBA Betting Odds.

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