The Washington Wizards will pay a visit to the United Center this Monday night to square off against the Chicago Bulls in an Eastern Conference clash. Tip off is slated for 8 p.m. (ET), and the game will be broadcast nationally on NBA TV.

The Wizards have dropped their last two games to fall to 16-19 straight up on the year. This past Saturday they lost to Houston 114-107 as two-point home favorites after losing to Indiana by 27 points on the road the night before. They have still won three of their last four road games both SU and against the spread, and the total has stayed “under” in four of their last seven games overall.

Chicago has put together a five-game winning streak heading into Monday night’s contest. This recent run has it one game below .500 at 17-18 SU with a 16-19 record ATS. This past Saturday, the Bulls knocked off Charlotte 103-97 as four-point home favorites to improve to 11-7 SU and 9-9 ATS at home this year. The total has stayed under in eight of their last 10 games overall. 

Wizards at Bulls Betting Storylines

The Wizards have been able to hang around the .500 mark this season, which is actually good enough for sixth place in the current standings of the watered-down East. They are 4-6 SU in their last 10 games and 9-10 SU overall on the road. They are definitely not one of the flashiest teams in the league with an average of 97.8 points, but they have played decent defense on the other end of the court by holding opponents to 99.6 points a game. Washington’s 42.7 rebounds a game is ranked 20th in the NBA.

John Wall leads the team in points (19.6), assists (8.6) and steals (2.0), but he is shooting just 41.5 percent from the floor and 32.1 percent from 3-point range. It is obvious that consistency continues to be an issue for the third-year point guard. The Wizards have shown good balance on offense with six different players averaging at least 11 points a game. Two other key contributors have been Marcin Gortat with an average 8.5 rebounds and Bradley Beal with 17.5 points. Beal is the team’s best pure shooter from outside with a 44.4 percent average from beyond the arc.

Chicago decided to trade away its top scorer, Luol Deng, to add some much-needed draft picks to build for the future, but so far his departure has sparked the team in its current play on the court. Four of the five victories have come at the United Center over teams such Atlanta and Phoenix, which both have winning records this season. Overall, the Bulls are still ranked dead last in the NBA in scoring with 91.4 points a game, but defense remains a strong suit by holding teams to 91.6 points, which is the second lowest total in the league.

With Deng now playing in Cleveland and Derrick Rose still on the mend, Chicago has turned to players such as Carlos Boozer, Jimmy Butler and Joakim Noah to fill the void. Boozer is averaging 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds, and Noah just posted a team-high 19 points and 14 rebounds in the win over the Bobcats. Butler tweaked his thigh in Saturday night’s game and he remains questionable for Monday night on the current injury report.

Wizards at Bulls NBA Betting Odds and Trends

BetOnline has opened the Bulls as three-point home favorites for Monday night with the total line set at 181.5.

The Wizards are 7-2 ATS in their last nine road games, but they are 2-5 ATS in their last seven games overall. The total has gone “over” in seven of those last nine games on the road.

The Bulls have covered in their last four home games, and they are 7-0 ATS in their last seven games against a team with a SU losing record. The total has stayed under in 10 of their last 11 games played at home.

Head-to-head in this series, Washington has covered in the last five meetings, and it is 8-3 ATS in its last 11 trips to Washington. The total has stayed under in five of the last six meetings at the United Center.

Free NBA Picks: Wizards at Bulls Betting Predictions

Chicago is on its best roll of the year with a 5-0 record both SU and ATS, and while they have a decent shot at extending this SU winning streak to six games, at the very least I see the Wizards grinding out a victory ATS to extend their streak of covering in this series to six games as well.

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