Bulls vs. Wizards Odds, Preview, Pick & Prediction - Saturday, January 1st
Bulls vs. Wizards Odds
| Bulls Odds | -2.5 |
| Wizards Odds | +2.5 |
| Over/Under | 220.5 |
| Date | Saturday, Jan. 1 |
| Time | 7:00 p.m. ET |
| TV | NSMA |
On Saturday evening, the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards will celebrate the New Year with a battle at the Capital One Arena in our nation’s capital. Similar to the rest of the league, this contest is impacted heavily by COVID-19 and the injury bug. Chicago will be without Lonzo Ball, Tony Bradley, Alex Caruso, Javonte Green, Alfonzo McKinnie, Marko Simonovic, and Patrick Williams. Washington has listed out Davis Bertans, Thomas Bryant, Spencer Dinwiddie, Rui Hachimura, Montrezl Harrell, Aaron Holiday, Raul Neto, and Brad Wanamaker. Oddsmakers are anticipating a closely-contested affair between these two teams tonight, pricing the Bulls as 2.5-point road favorites on the spread at online sportsbooks.
Bulls
Per Cleaning the Glass, when Ball, Bradley, Caruso, Green, McKinnie, Simonovic, and Williams have been off of the floor at the same time this season, Chicago ranks in the 85th percentile in offensive efficiency, but has been atrocious defensively–allowing 126.8 points per 100 possessions. Further complicating matters for the Bulls ahead of tonight’s action is the fact that they played the Indiana Pacers on Friday. Fortunately, the travel schedule was not too terrible with Chicago landing at Dulles International Airport at 8:23 pm ET last night. Tough scheduling has not been a major concern for the Bulls this season, as they are 4-2 when playing on the latter half of a back-to-back set and 3-2 when playing with a rest disadvantage.
The Bulls rank 7th in Net Rating on the season, 9th in Net Rating over their last seven games, and 7th in Net Rating on the road thus far on the campaign. Even missing a few key pieces, Chicago should be competitive in this one.
Wizards
Per Cleaning the Glass, when Bertans, Dinwiddie, Harrell, Holiday, Neto, and Wanamaker are off of the floor at the same time this year, the Wizards have been excellent in a small sample size–ranking in the 96th percentile in offensive efficiency and the 91st percentile in defensive efficiency. However, bettors should be cautious to be too much stock into such a limited sample size, especially considering that a significant portion of those possessions came against a depleted Cleveland Cavaliers roster in their last game.
On the season, Washington ranks 23rd in Net Rating. The Wizards are also 23rd in Net Rating over their last seven games and only 20th in the NBA in Net Rating when playing at home. On one day of rest, this group is a mediocre 12-11. Even playing with a rest advantage has only led to two wins in four such situations. Following a strong start to the campaign, there have been few teams less reliable than Washington from a betting perspective.
Picks and Prediction
Both of these teams are missing key pieces this evening, but Chicago is far better equipped to handle such losses. DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, and Zach LaVine each played 34 minutes or more in yesterday’s victory over the Indiana Pacers, which presents some risk here due to fatigue. Nevertheless, the Bulls are the more talented roster in this one and should be able to secure a victory.
If looking to attack the player prop market in this one, PrizePicks has Bradley Beal’s prop listed at over/under 26.5 points. Per Edghouse, Beal has hit this number in 16 of his 29 games played this season, including four of his last six contests. Playing against a poor Chicago defense, and playing on a roster missing key offensive contributors–Beal should have a strong performance in this one. Take the over.
PICK: Bulls ML (-129)
PROP: Bradley Beal OVER 26.5 Points, PrizePicks
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