Entering this weekend, the Chicago Bulls and second-year head coach Billy Donovan will be looking to extend their winning streak to nine games if they can take down the Washington Wizards at home on the night of Jan. 7. This will be the second meeting between the Bulls and Wizards in the last week.
The last meeting between the Bulls and Wizards resulted in a road win for Chicago thanks to a game-winning buzzer-beating three-pointer from star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan back on Jan. 1.
The Bulls come into this game sporting a record of 25-10 following their four-point home win over the Orlando Magic back on Jan. 3. That record is good for best in the Eastern Conference right now ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets.
Meanwhile, the Wizards come into this game with a record of 19-19 following their Jan. 5 114-111 loss at home to the Houston Rockets. The Wizards are looking to stay afloat in the Eastern Conference playoff picture nearing the halfway mark of the regular season.
Here’s a look into the betting odds and game prediction as the Bulls are set to take on the Wizards at the United Center in Chicago on Jan. 7, with tip-off time set for 7 p.m. CT.
Chicago Bulls vs. Washington Wizards betting odds
According to WynnBet, the Bulls are a six-point favorite over the Wizards in this game. And the over/under is set at 225 points.
The ESPN matchup predictor gives the Bulls a 63.3 percent chance to beat the Wizards.
Chicago Bulls vs. Washington Wizards prediction
At the moment, the Wizards are riding a Kyle Kuzma hot streak. He’s had multiple 20+ point performances in the last couple of weeks, despite the return of star shooting guard Bradley Beal to the rotation out of the health and safety protocol. Kuzma is doing big things for the Wizards right now, and he nearly hit the potential game-winner for the Wizards in the final minute against the Bulls on New Year’s Day.
Kuzma had the game-winning basket until DeRozan put the dagger in the Wizards with his game-winning buzzer-beating three-pointer last weekend.
Moreover, there are still some absences due to various reasons for the Bulls in this meeting with the Wizards. Point guard Alex Caruso and shooting guard/forward Javonte Green are still missing for this game. Caruso it now in the health and safety protocol and Green is still out with an adductor injury.
Missing Caruso is something that does hurt for the Bulls. The hope is that he will be available for the Bulls coming out of the weekend, though. Caruso has missed the last six games for the Bulls. And that will likely move to eight after the Bulls face the Wizards on this night and the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 9.
This will still leave much of this game up to the Bulls’ star trio of DeRozan, shooting guard Zach LaVine, and center Nikola Vucevic. The Bulls are getting tremendous production from this trio during the eight-game winning streak.
At some point, all of these close games the Bulls are playing in will come back to get them. They are definitely on a roll lately and I think they still get through this game with the winning streak intact. The real challenge will start over the weekend in taking on the Mavs on the road on Jan. 9.