New York Knicks +8.5 (-105) @ Chicago Bulls United Center, Chicago, Illinois
March 23, 2016, 5:00PM PDT
Our computer simulation + power rankings approach expects the Knicks to lose by a 4-5 point margin at the Chicago Bulls this evening. As such, we are backing New York as 8.5 point underdogs.
The Bulls are 3-7 versus the number when favored by 8 or more. Chicago is also 15-24 ATS when playing after a night off, 16-26 in conference games and 24-33 facing competition outside their Central Division.
On the other hand, New York is 21-15 against the betting line when away from Madison Square Garden this season, and 19-11 as road dogs. Moreover, at 23-20 and 30-28 respectively, the Knicks sport winning records (against the spread) versus Eastern conference foes and teams not in the Atlantic Division.
In head-to-head action, the last ten contests were evenly split ATS. Of those, five were played in Chicago. The Bulls exhibited a modest (3-2) edge in this subset of games, but the results are too close to even (and the sample size too small) to suggest an advantage of significance for Chicago from this position.
Bottom line: At 37-34 against the spread (compared to 29-40 for Chicago), New York has been the superior pick this season, from a betting perspective. Our handicapping framework, as well as betting trends, hint that the better team should prevail versus the betting line tonight. Accordingly, we recommend Knicks and the points.
Key to our pick, Carmelo Anthony is reportedly now migraine-free and is expected to go this evening (per RotoWorld).
Happy betting!!