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Bulls look to stay hot Sunday vs. Wizards
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 4/20/2014  at  5:18:00 AM
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WASHINGTON WIZARDS (44-38)

at CHICAGO BULLS (48-34)

NBA Playoffs - Eastern Conference First Round
Game 1
Tip-off: Sunday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Chicago -4.5, Total: 181

The Bulls look to take advantage of their home-court edge on Easter Sunday when they host the Wizards in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs.

Washington finished the season extremely well, winning eight of its final 11 games (7-4 ATS), including four straight win-and-covers to close the regular season. Now the Wizards head to Chicago for Game 1 where they meet a Bulls team that has won eight of its past 10 games (7-3 ATS). Washington, which is 22-19 SU (26-15 ATS) on the road this season, held the 2-1 SU series advantage including a 102-88 romp at United Center on Jan. 13. But Chicago won the most recent meeting on April 5 in the nation's capital by a 96-78 score, and is 25-11 SU (16-20 ATS) when hosting this series since 1996. Over the past three seasons, the Bulls are 3-2 SU when playing the Wizards at home, but Washington is 4-1 ATS in those games. Both teams also have multiple reasons to make bettors happy. Over the past two seasons, the Wizards are 27-11 ATS revenging a home loss versus an opponent, and 8-0 ATS in road games after scoring 55+ points in the first half in two straight games. The Bulls are 25-17 ATS this season after having won four or five of their previous six contests, and are also 54-39 ATS over the past three seasons after one or more consecutive losses. In the past 10 games played in this series, seven games have gone Under the total.

The Wizards were up-and-down this season, but they finished the season strong and ultimately earned the fifth seed in the East. Washington allowed just 99.4 PPG (9th in NBA) this season and was one of the best passing teams in the league with 23.3 APG (8th in NBA). PG John Wall (19.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG) is the best guard in this series and will need to use his blazing speed to have the Wizards getting easy baskets on fast breaks. Wall will also need to be disciplined on defense in order to avoid getting in foul trouble. SG Bradley Beal (17.1 PPG) averaged 18.4 PPG over the final five games of the season, but scored only 13.7 PPG in three games against the Bulls this season, and the Wizards will need him to do better than that in order to advance in this series. C Marcin Gortat (13.2 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.5 BPG) ended the season strong, averaging 15.4 PPG, 11.2 RPG and 1.6 BPG over the past five games. Gortat has a difficult matchup with Joakim Noah in this series. He will need to stay aggressive and be especially active defensively. PF Nene Hilario (14.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG) is averaging 14.3 PPG in four games since he returned from his knee injury. If he is playing well, he makes the Wizards an extremely difficult team to beat.

Chicago has the fewest points in the league with 93.7 PPG, but it also allows the least amount of points to its opponents (91.8 PPG). The Bulls are also above average in both rebounding (44.1 RPG, 10th in NBA) and assists (22.7 APG, 10th in league). But even without franchise PG Derrick Rose, the Bulls have been able to persevere over the past couple of seasons, and that is because of the fighting mentality of C Joakim Noah (12.6 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 1.5 BPG). Noah is a triple-double threat every time he steps onto the court, and he will not let the Bulls lose any of these games without competing at a high level. Noah averaged 12.7 PPG and 13.3 RPG in three games against the Wizards this season. SG Jimmy Butler (13.1 PPG, 4.9 RPG) scored just 8.0 PPG in three games against Washington this season, but is one of the team’s most consistent offensive options, so he will need to find a way to get over his struggles against Washington. PG D.J. Augustin (13.1 PPG, 4.4 APG) averaged 18.5 PPG over the final four games of the regular season, and will have a huge role in determining the winner of this series. Augustin is the most athletic point guard on the Bulls' roster, so he could see plenty of action in order for Chicago to try to match the speed of John Wall.


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