Bulls at Pacers Tuesday. Preview, Pick and Best Props!

The Bulls visit the Pacers on Tuesday night and it’s a tale of two teams heading in opposite directions. The Bulls bring in a fully-loaded offensive arsenal that includes Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic while the Pacers will once again be without their best player, point guard Tyrese Haliburton. 

The Bulls have rattled off three straight wins while the Pacers have now dropped seven straight - all of which have come without Haliburton (elbow/knee) around to run the show. The Bulls three-game winning streak saw them defeat the Warriors, Pistons and Hawks, all at home in Chicago. DeMar DeRozan had 26 points and six assists in Monday’s win, Zach LaVine added 20 and a full stat line, Nikola Vucevic kept it going with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his 11th straight double-double and Pat Williams had a nice game with 18 points, 10 rebounds and two 3-pointers. Vuc has double-doubled in all 11 January games and is averaging 20.3 points, 13.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.8 blocks and 1.8 3-pointers this month. DeRozan checks in at 25.4 points in January and LaVine is at 28.3 points per game this month. That’s a lot of firepower for the Pacers to deal with. 

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The Pacers have been getting some nice run from T.J. McConnell, who is filling in for Haliburton at point guard. McConnell is coming off a triple-double of 18 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, but didn’t exactly crush it in his previous two games. Nonetheless, he’s averaging 15 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.7 steals over his last seven games and should be in fantasy lineups wherever possible. Myles Turner had 16 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and three 3-pointers against the Suns on Saturday but that was his first double-digit rebound game since Jan. 2. Buddy Hield had scored in single digits in three of four games prior to Saturday but hit five triples for 22 points in that one. He’s due to get hot again after struggling for most of last week. Bennedict Mathurin had 23 points and five rebounds against the Suns and has now scored in double figures in seven straight games, all losses for the Pacers. 

Top Oddscrowd performing bettor Rawluciano likes the Pacers Moneyline in this one but the Pacers can’t seem to get out of their own way right now and the Bulls are firing on all cylinders. We like the Bulls minus the points in Indy tonight, especially given that they are 5-2-1 against the spread on the second night of a back-to-back this season.. 

Pick: Bulls -2

Prop 1: Nikola Vucevic Over 29.5 combined points and rebounds

Prop 2: Patrick Williams Over 11.5 points

Prop 3: T.J. McConnell Over 28.5 combined points, rebounds and assists