NBA Playoffs 2022 on Monday, 18.04.2022
In no first-round series of the 2022 NBA Playoffs is the favourite role as clearly distributed as in the match-up between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Chicago Bulls. The visitors were outstanding at the beginning of the season, but in recent weeks they have even been booed by their own fans.
The way I see things in my Bucks Bulls tip, the defending champions will not only win the first game, but in all likelihood the Series – in four to five games at the most!
The Chicago Bulls are not the easiest opponent when looking at the final standings of the Eastern Conference, because the red and white team qualified directly for the playoffs and not via the play-in tournament like the Nets and Hawks.
Nevertheless, the sixth-placed team has such a poor record against strong teams that many NBA betting enthusiasts base their win bets on the Green and Whites on that alone – and who could blame them?
After all, the Bulls have a fearsome 2-21 record against teams ranked in the top 4 of both conferences throughout the regular season. And they’ve been particularly miserable against the Bucks.
Milwaukee has always managed to lead the Bulls in four duels! Giannis Antetokounmpo will again be the guarantor for the fifth win of the season, and he will have no problem getting the better of his man Patrick Williams.
The Greek is especially devastating at the board, precisely where the guests have their greatest difficulties. The official NBA statistics do not list Chicago in 28th place in terms of grabbing rebounds for nothing.
In the aforementioned four season duels against the defending champions, Milwaukee won the battle in the zone by an average of 51.5 to 35.5 points and also recorded a clear advantage in second-chance points.
In addition, the Bulls will be without one of their key players in Lonzo Ball, who will also miss the entire playoffs. On the other hand, the defending champions are much luckier.
The return of Brook Lopez is in the offing, and he will be back in time for the start of the series to give the Green and Whites’ defence, which has been average at best for much of the season, a major boost.
Together with Jrue Holiday, the defensive talent will most likely be able to take the two best offensive players of the visitors, DeRozan and LaVine, out of the game or at least disrupt them in the decisive moments.
By the way, I also see black for the Bulls because, apart from the already mentioned weak rebounding, they also rank among the worst teams in the NBA in the category “points off the bench”.
Granted, the Bucks also have a second suit from the second-hand shop, but the red and whites would need at least an overweight here to make up ground on the defending champions if Giannis Antetokounmpo ever has to go into the box for gas.
I mentioned the lopsidedness of the odds at the very beginning of my Bucks Bulls prediction – and it is indeed confirmed in the current bookmaker odds.
Summary: The guests are also such a glaring underdog because they could only win 2 of 23 games against one of the top 4 of both Conferences – against the defending champions the record is even 0 to 4.
As usual, the Green-Whites will work the board with Antetokounmpo and lay the foundation for their fifth win of the season over the Red-Whites there. Because in terms of rebounds, the Bulls simply lack quality.
On top of that, Brook Lopez has returned to fitness for the defending champions, while Lonzo Ball will miss the entire playoffs on the other side – the visitors can’t expect much help from the bench anyway.
My Bucks Bulls tip: Milwaukee wins with HC -6.5!
