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The Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics return to action this Wednesday night at TD Garden in what has become a best-of-three affair in this opening round playoff matchup in the Eastern Conference with the series tied at two games apiece. Tip-off for Game 5 set for 8:30 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on TNT.
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Chicago at Boston Game Overview<br />
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The Bulls charged out of the gate in this series with a pair of road wins that both went OVER the 206.5-point total line in each game, but they could not get a victory at home in the next two games either straight-up or against the spread. Chicago has closed as an underdog in all four games and the total has been evenly split with the last two games staying UNDER. Heading into this series, it had gone 6-2 ATS in its previous eight games on the road with the total going OVER in five of those games.
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In Sunday’s 104-95 loss at home as slight 1.5-point underdogs, the Bulls got off to a slow start that resulted in a 12-point deficit following just one quarter. Jimmy Butler ended that game with 33 points and nine assists. He led the team in scoring in the regular season with 23.9 points per game and through the first four games in the postseason he has raised this average slightly to 24.8. Chicago is averaging 99.8 points as a team against Boston, which is down slightly from its 102.9-point scoring average during the year.
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Boston had to deal with a personal tragedy to Isaiah Thomas’s family to start the playoffs and it had to dig itself out of an early 2-0 hole with those two losses at home, but Sunday’s solid victory in Game 4 could signal a turning point in this series as the top overall seed in the Eastern Conference. This prediction still comes with some caution given that the Celtics were not one of the best betting teams down the stretch run of the regular season with a 3-7 record ATS over their final 10 games and they are still just 1-8 ATS in their last nine games at home.
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Thomas has played admirably through his grief and he was really been able to dial things up in his last start with 33 points and seven assists in Sunday’s win while going 10-for-21 from the field. He started this series with 33 points in Game 1 and his overall scoring average for the past four games is 25.5 PPG. Boston was the seventh-highest scoring team in the NBA during the regular season with 108.0 PPG, but neither team in this series has been able to score more than 111 points in any of the first four games.
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Chicago at Boston Game Betting Trends<br />
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--The Bulls are 7-1 ATS in their last eight games following a SU loss and they have gone 8-2 ATS in their last 10 road games. The total has gone OVER in seven of their last 10 games on the road.
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--The Celtics are 1-7 ATS in their last eight home games against a team with a SU losing record on the road and the total has stayed UNDER in five of their last seven games following a SU win.
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--Head-to-head in this Eastern Conference tilt, the favorite is 9-3 ATS in the last 12 meetings and the total has stayed UNDER in six of the last eight games between the two.
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