Monday, May 21st, 2012
The Atlanta Hawks will travel to face the Chicago Bulls in game 1 of their best of 7 Eastern conference semifinal NBA pro basketball playoff series on Monday night.
Tip off time from Chicago is scheduled for 8PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by TNT.
The betting odds opened up in this NBA playoff game 1 with the home standing Chicago Bulls lined as a –9 1/2 point favorite with an over under of 179 points.
Early money has shown on the side of the Hawks as the Chicago Bulls is now favored by -9 points.
The over under has not moved off the opener as the game is still hung at 179 points.
Chicago Bulls money line supporters will lay –450 odds with the road underdog Atlanta Hawks returning +360 odds to earn the upset road win without the aid of points on their side.
The Chicago Bulls are a prohibitive -1200 series odds favorite to win this best of 7 series with the Atlanta Hawks returning +800 odds to pull off the upset series win and advance to the Eastern conference finals.
These Eastern conference clubs battled three times during the regular season with the Chicago Bulls winning two of the three games.
They played just once this regular season in Chicago and that game took place on March 11th and it was the Bulls with the 94-76 blowout home victory against the Atlanta Hawks as a -7 ½ point betting favorite.
The game landed under the total of 179 points.
The Bulls crushed the Hawks in the second half by outscoring Atlanta by a 46-26 margin.
Chicago shot 45% in the win and connected on just 4 of 20 from the three point line. The team made it to the free throw line 19 points and sank 18 shots.
The team pounded Atlanta on the glass by a 56-36 margin.
Point guard Derrick Rose led the team with 34 points on 9 of 24 shooting with 14 makes out of 15 free throw attempts and five assists.
Luol Deng contributed with 18 points with nine boards and seven assists.
The Bulls got good point production from their bench with 38 points.
Atlanta shot just 43.1% from the field and 5 of 14 from three in defeat. They missed six of fifteen of their free throws.
Joe Johnson led the club with 16 points on 7 of 15 shooting from the floor and four rebounds.
Josh Smith had 15 points and six rebounds on a poor 4 of 13 shooting.
Atlanta advances into the Eastern conference semifinal round of the playoffs after winning in six games against the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs.
The team averages 95 points per game and connects on 46.2% shooting from the field. The club sinks on 35.2% from three and 77.9% from the free throw line.
On defense the club gives up 95.8 points per game and a high 46% shooting. Opponents hit on 33.8% from three against the Hawks.
Atlanta has not shot well in the Magic series with a 42.5% shooting average.
Off the bench guard Jamal Crawford has led the Hawks in scoring with a 20 ½ points per game average and just 43.5% shooting from the field.
Crawford’s average against the Bulls this season was only in single digits with 9.3 points per game average.
Joe Johnson in the post season has averaged 18 points with just 39.6% shooting with 6 ½ rebounds per game.
He has only hit on 39.1% of his shots against the Bulls on the season.
Josh Smith has averaged over 14 points a game and 8 boards in the playoffs.
That is pretty much what he has done against the Bulls.
Center Al Horford has shot just 40.3% shooting in the playoffs.
He led the club in scoring this season in their three games versus the Bulls with 17.2 points per game and a very good 62.9% shooting from the field.
Reserve guard Kirk Hinrich was forced to leave game 6 against Orlando with a hamstring strain and is listed in the injury report as doubtful in game 1 of the Bulls series.
Chicago enters this playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks following an Eastern conference quarterfinal series win against the Indiana Pacers in five games.
The Bulls put up 98.6 points per game and 46.2% shooting from the floor. The club hits on 36.1% from three and 74.3% from the free throw line.
Defensively the club allows just 91.3 points per game ranking second in the NBA. They give up just 43% shooting from the field ranking first in the league.
The Bulls are also the top three point shooting defense in the league as they give up 32.6% from beyond the arc to their opponents.
Point guard Derrick Rose has led the club in the postseason with 27.6 points per game average and 6 assists per game. He has only shot 37.1% from the floor.
Rose has averaged 25 points per game against the Hawks and 9 assists during the regular season.
In the Indiana series Luol Deng averaged over 18 points per game and six rebounds. Deng shot just 41.1% from the floor.
Deng has shot well against Atlanta this season with 51.1% shooting from the floor.
Center Joakim Noah led the club with 10 ½ rebounds per game in the playoffs. He also has put up 12 points per game.
Noah averages 10 boards but just 43.8% shooting in his games versus Atlanta this season.
Reserve Kyle Korver shot well in the postseason with a 48.7% shooting average from the field and 58.8% from the three point line.
Against Atlanta Korver has shot well with 50% shooting and 50% from three.
Trend: The Over is 4-1 in their past five meetings played in Chicago.
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