Betting Results:
Head to Head: Bucks, odds 2.236
Line: Bucks (+2.5), odds 1.952
Total Points: Under (226.5), odds 1.884

Pre-game Prediction:
Bucks, 52.6%
Bulls, 47.4%

A winning tip for us here, with our Bucks -2.5 tip romping home. Our Player Pro Bet Tip (Giddey +10.5 points) was a push as he didn't play a single second in Chicago due to an ankle injury, note, there was a lot of money placed on the Bulls before the game, so by the time the game started, the Bucks were actually the outsiders, however when we tipped them, the Bucks were approximately 1.8 favourites.

Middleton and Lopez lead the way as Bucks pound Bulls 112-91 without Giannis, Lillard

By ANDREW SELIGMAN AP Basketball Writer The Associated Press CHICAGO

CHICAGO (AP) — Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez each scored 21 points, Bobby Portis added 19 points and 13 rebounds, and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls 112-91 on Monday without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

Middleton set a season high for the second game in a row after scoring 18 in Saturday’s win over Washington. The three-time All-Star missed the first 21 games following surgery on both ankles.

Middleton and Lopez each made three of Milwaukee’s 18 3-pointers. Gary Trent Jr. nailed four from beyond the arc and finished with 14 points.

Antetokounmpo missed his second consecutive game because of back spasms and his fourth overall this season. Lillard missed his third game in a row — this time because of a non-COVID illness. The eight-time All-Star sat out the previous two with a strained right calf.

Nikola Vucevic had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Chicago. The Bulls made just 10 of 48 3-pointers in losing their second in a row.

Takeaways

Bucks: The Bucks continued to look more like the team they expected than the one that struggled at the start of the season.

Bulls: The Bulls were a bit thin in the backcourt, with Lonzo Ball out with an illness and Josh Giddey missing his third straight game because of a sprained right ankle.

Key Moment

Milwaukee led by 23 in the second quarter and withstood a push by Chicago in the third. The Bulls cut it to 76-68 when Dalen Terry stole a pass and broke for a layup to cap a 10-0 run. But the Bucks answered with 11 straight points, including back-to-back 3s by Trent and a floater by Delon Wright that bumped the lead to 87-68 with just over two minutes remaining in the third.

Key Stat

The Bucks made 11 of 24 3-pointers in the first half, while the Bulls were 6 for 28.

This is how we previewed this game....

A very tight game in store here, with visiting Milwaukee installed as 1.5 point favourites by most sportsbooks. We are looking for the best value tips we can find for the game and for the best player props bets.

As usual we've trawled the best NBA tip sites to see what they think of the game, before we make our decisions.

Dimers - forecasting a 116-114 win for the Bucks, tipping Bucks -1.5
Clutch Points - tbc
Pickswise - also tipping Bucks -1.5
Sportskeeda - Bucks win and over 233.5 total points.
Betting Odds - predicting a 116-114 win for Milwaukee, tipping Bucks -1.5 and Under 231 points.
Sportsline - The only one to the big 6 (who have published) to be tipping a nets win, 111-109. Advising a bet on Nets +4 and Nets on the moneyline.

We like the look of the Bucks\, and are strongly leaning towards Milwaukee to cover the spread. Despite stuggling against the Cavs (as does almost everyone), the Bucks are a far stronger team than Chicago.

Our Tip for Bucks at Bulls

A 2-point bet on Milwaukee Bucks (-2.5) is our game tip - odds 1.902
Returns $38.04 for a $20 bet

The Bucks won at a canter, winning by a margin of 21 points,. our tip here won easily

Our player props are further down this page