Nets vs. Bulls Odds & Picks: Shootout Atop the East

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Tonight, the Nets' crazy travel schedule has them in Chicago, for a battle of the top teams in the East, where Brooklyn currently sits 2.5 games back of the red-hot Bulls, who recently had their long win streak snapped.

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Nets vs. Bulls Odds

Nets vs. Bulls Best Bets

*Lines accurate at the time of publication

Nets +2 vs. Bulls (-110, BR)

There is a lot of unknown surrounding Brooklyn, with this being the first time Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving will be on the court together this season but there are signs Chicago’s hot first half could be losing some steam.

Before dismantling the woeful Pistons last night, in the past month, the Bulls' defense has unraveled from a top-10 unit to 24th in that time frame. What is a positive sign for the Nets, is over the last two weeks, they have taken the second-most shots at the rim and in the time the Bulls defense has hit the skids, they are allowing the most shots to be taken at the rim by a wide margin.

While neither defense would be described as stellar, as evidenced by a total in the mid-230s, being able to get the higher quality shots more often takes some of the bottom out of the Nets' possible offensive performance. Chicago relies on long mid-range shots more than any team in the league and while they are more efficient at those shots than most, they do increase the inherent variance in their offensive performance.

If Claxton is able to play, that would increase the edge for Brooklyn due to Bulls center Nikola Vucevic’s issues containing very athletic, big centers.

Risk: 1.1 units on BetRivers to win 1 unit.

DeMar DeRozan Over 4.5 Assists (-105, DK)

After the Bulls, much like the Nets, were decimated by a battle with the health and safety protocols, they have gotten red hot again, especially offensively. Handling even more of the playmaking load than before going into the protocols is DeMar DeRozan.

In the last two weeks, DeRozan has averaged 6.8 assists on 11.4 potential assists. Considering the total of this game currently sits at 234 and will likely continue to climb, this is the highest totaled game the Bulls have had in that time. That means there should be either more potential assists available or each potential assist will be worth more due to higher efficiency.

Risk: 1.05 units on DraftKings to win 1 unit. (Playable to -120)

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