The Boston Celtics went on the road and picked up two victories to tie their series at 2 with the Chicago Bulls. Now the top-seeded Celtics have a chance to go home and take control.
The Boston Celtics went on the road and picked up two victories to tie their series at 2 with the Chicago Bulls. Now the top-seeded Celtics have a chance to go home and take control.
No home team has won a game yet in this series, but Boston will be favored to do so in Game 5. The Bulls have not looked great since point guard Rajon Rondo went down with an injury, but played extremely well in Boston to open the series and hope to find more success in this one.
This series has been topsy-turvy, but expect normalcy to be restored in this one. The Celtics are going to be solid favorites and should finally be able to pick up a home win to quiet any talk of a monumental first-round upset against Chicago.
This war on the floor will go down Wednesday, April 26, 2017, at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The game will be televised live on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Wednesday schedule.
NBA Odds
The Celtics were slight favorites in Game 4 and covered easily in a 104-95 victory. The scoring total was set at 204 points and the “under” was the correct play there.
Boston improves to 55-31 straight up and 43-42-1 against the spread. The Celtics have covered in 17 of 43 home games on the season. They are 32-33 against the spread as the favorite.
The Bulls are 43-43 straight up and 44-42 against the spread. They have gone on the road 43 times and covered in 20 of them. The Bulls are an impressive 29-20 against the spread as the underdog, although they couldn’t cover in Game 4.
Last Time Out
Boston jumped out to a 30-18 lead after one quarter, but the Bulls battled back to make it a game in the third quarter. However, the Celtics played well down the stretch, as Isaiah Thomas came away with a number of key buckets.
Thomas finished the game with 33 points on 10-of-21 shooting and added seven assists and five rebounds. He continues to grieve from the unexpected death of his sister in a car accident right before the series started, but Thomas is playing well.
Jimmy Butler played well for Chicago, finishing with 33 points, nine assists and five rebounds, but nobody else on the Bulls had more than 13 points. Chicago struggled to score in crucial stretches and missed out on a chance to take a 3-1 lead and make it a realistic idea to win this series.
Key Stat
18. That’s how many teams, out of 280, who have rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win a seven-game series. That number is so bad because usually inferior teams fall into a big hole. However, the top-seeded Celtics were in that predicament but now have pulled even with Chicago.
Boston will be favored now to win this series, and it has a great shot to become the 19th team to accomplish the feat. The Celtics have two of the final three games at home, and it seems like they have found some rhythm in this series after struggling so badly early on.
Free NBA ATS Pick
Chicago has shown its ability to win in Boston, but it seems like this series has turned. The Celtics are getting standout performances from Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford and getting some nice help from others, including Gerald Green last time out.
Butler is great, but Dwyane Wade or someone else really needs to play well in Game 5 if Chicago is going to have another shot at an upset. The Bulls play the Celtics well so this one should be close, but take the Celtics to win and finally get a lead in this series.
NBA Odds: Celtics 104, Bulls 97
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