Miami Heat vs. Chicago Bulls NBA Pick

NBA Betting Trends

Miami remained hot off the All-Star break with a 103-90 victory over Atlanta on Wednesday night as a 5.5-point favorite on the road. It was its eighth win in a row with the last two coming on the road. The Heat are now 37-14 straight-up on the year and 14-11 on the road. They have covered in their last five games to improve to 27-24 against the spread. Miami is 12-13 ATS on the road this season and the total has gone OVER in five of their last six games.

A big reason for the Heats’ run has been the elevated play of LeBron James. He cooled a bit against the Hawks with just 24 points while going just 8-for-15 from the field. This was after scoring 30 points or more in his previous seven games. Miami has also picked up the pace on defense during this winning streak; holding teams to 97 points or less in five of the eight games.

The Bulls got back into action after the break with a 96-87 win over New Orleans as one-point road favorites this past Tuesday. The total went OVER the 181.5-point line and has now gone OVER in four of their last six games. Chicago is 31-22 SU but still well below .500 ATS at 23-30. It has struggled at home this season at times with a SU record of 15-12 and is a very costly 7-20 ATS.

Consistency has been an issue with the Bulls over the past few weeks with a 4-6 SU record in their past 10 games. Injuries have been an issue during this run, but they come into this match-up with no key players out of the lineup. Chicago will need to be at full strength to pull out a win against the red-hot Heat. Fortunately it has had some success against Miami recently with a 4-1 SU record in the last five meetings.

Prediction

There is little doubt that the Heat are playing some of their best ball of the year. However, this could end up being a trap game given that they are playing back-to-back nights on the road against one of the top defensive teams in the league. Look for the Bulls to step it up with a full complement of their stars to end Miami’s winning streak at eight.

Chicago 92 Miami 90