Posted on 4/3/2008 3:38:12 PM

Basketball Betting – Bumbling Bulls Clash With Cleveland

By Tim Furious

Chicago Bulls (39-45) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (42-33)

Thursday, April 3rd --- Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland --- 8:00pm EST

NBA Betting Line: Cleveland -7.5 (196.5)

Whether or not Ben Wallace suits up for tonight’s game, the more important storyline here remains Cleveland’s recent struggles. They narrowly escaped Charlotte and Philadelphia by a total margin of 7-points in the last two games. The insurgence of new blood on the Cavs has done little to nothing to improve there chances against Boston in the playoffs. It’s still a one-man army behind Lebron James’ loaded gun.

But that doesn’t seem to faze the Cavs, who sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, and are 10-1 SU in their last 11 games at home. They’ve enjoyed a flurry of success against the pitch patch Bulls. In the past eight games, Cleveland has gone 7-1 ATS when facing the Bulls.

Of course it’s hard to erase the memory of Drew Gooden getting his revenge on Cleveland last month in a 107-96 victory for the Bulls. However, with Gooden out, it’s hard to imagine that Chicago will have anyone big enough to stop Zydrunas Iglauskas, the only other consistent threat on the Cavs roster. In 67 games, Big Z has 13.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.70 blocks per game. He has become one of the most reliable, if not completely unheralded, big men in the game and will give Chicago nightmares all night tonight.

There’s virtually nothing positive to say about Chicago still. They are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games and have gone 2-4 ATS in their last six games on the road. To say that they have been unreliable to what little betting faithful that remain is an understatement. But to say that they are extremely risky on the road against a marginal spread like -7.5 is obvious.

Chicago makes too many mistakes overall and Cleveland is desperately trying to ensure they keep Washington and Toronto off their backs and secure home court advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. Cleveland’s defense has collapsed recently, dropping them to a 97.3 points per game average. What doesn’t help, of course, it he lack of scoring. They average only 96.9 points per game. It’s wroth to note for the future, but I just don’t see the Bulls making it to the rim enough times to warrant any concern on the part of Cleveland.

NBA Furious Free Picks: Cleveland -7.5 (UNDER)

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