Atlanta Hawks vs Chicago Bulls Picks, Player Props & Injury Updates (April 17)

• The Atlanta Hawks visit the Chicago Bulls in the 9-vs-10 game in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament tonight
• The Bulls took two of three from the Hawks in the regular season but were a game under .500 at home
• Below, find the Atlanta Hawks vs Chicago Bulls predictions, odds, player props, and injury news for April 17

Fighting for the unenviable right to the #8 seed in the East – and a first-round date with the Boston Celtics – the Atlanta Hawks (36-46, 15-26 away, 29-53 ATS) visit the Chicago Bulls (39-43, 20-21 home, 41-40- 1 ATS) in the 9-vs-10 game in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament on Wednesday night.

The winner will face the loser of tonight’s Heat/76ers game (7:10 pm ET tip-off) on Friday, while the loser will see its season come to an end.

Oddsmakers give the home team a slight edge in the Hawks vs Bulls odds. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 pm CT/9:30 pm ET at the United Center in Chicago.

Atlanta Hawks vs Chicago Bulls Odds

Chicago enters Wednesday night’s game as 3.5-point favorites against the spread and -145 on the moneyline. The game total is currently 222.5.

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Odds as of April 17 at ESPN Bet. New bettors can claim this ESPN Bet bonus code to wager on Hawks vs Bulls on Wednesday night. 

Atlanta vs Chicago Injury Reports

Both teams dealt with significant injury woes during the regular season, and it continues into the playoffs.

In addition to Zach LaVine (19.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG), who underwent season-ending surgery in February, the Bulls could also be missing Ayo Dosunmu (12.2 PPG, 3.2 APG) and Andre Drummond (8.4 PPG, 9.0 RPG). Both are listed as “questionable”  with quad and ankle issues, respectively.

On the Atlanta side, the Hawks lost Saddiq Bey (13.7 PPG, 6.5 RPG) to ACL surgery in early April, while Jalen Johnson (16.0 PPG, 8.7 RPG) remains sidelined with an ankle sprain.

Onyeka Okongwu (10.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG) is also out due to foot surgery. That trio of players represents Atlanta’s second, third, and fourth-leading rebounders, which will put immense pressure on center Clint Capela (11.5 PPG, 10.6 RPG) down low.

Bulls Won Season Series Against Hawks

Chicago managed to win two of three against the Hawks in the regular season, going 1-1 at home and 1-0 in Atlanta. The first meeting on Dec. 26 ended in a 118-113 home victory for the Bulls, led by 25 points from DeMar DeRozan (24.0 PPG, 5.3 APG).  The Bulls also took a 136-126 victory in ATL on Feb. 12 with DeRozan again scoring a team-high 29 points.

The Hawks answered back in the most-recent meeting on April 1, earning a 113-101 win in Chi-Town. Four of Atlanta’s five starters scored at least 15 points, led by 20 from Bogdan Bogdanovic, overcoming a 31-point night from DeRozan.

Chicago and Atlanta finished with some eerily similar statistics in the regular season. Separated by three games in the standings, they were 20th and 21st in Net Rating, respectively (-1.7 and -2.0). Of course, they got there in much different ways. Atlanta had the 12th-best O-Rating (116.4) compared to the Bulls in 19th (114.0), while the Bulls finished 22nd in D-Rating (115.7), significantly better than the 27th-rated Hawks (118.4).

Atlanta played at the sixth-fastest pace while the down-tempo Bulls were the third-slowest in the NBA.

ATL vs CHI Player Props

Player props from the DraftKings Sportsbook app.  

The NBA player props for Atlanta vs Chicago show DeRozan with a sky-high point total of 29.5, which is 5.5 higher than his season average. Trae Young (25.7 PPG, 10.8 APG) leads the Hawks at 23.5 and has the highest assist total on the board at 10.5. Capela, who as mentioned will shoulder a perhaps unreasonable burden in the post for the shorthanded Hawks, has a massive rebound total of 12.5.

Hawks vs Bulls Prediction

Neither team finished the regular season particularly well, but the Bulls were undeniably better. During a season-ending three-game road trip, Chicago beat Detroit (127-105) and Washington (129-127) and then game within a hair of upsetting the Knicks in New York on the final day of the season (120-119 OT). And it’s not like the Knicks were resting anyone. New York needed the win to leapfrog Milwaukee for the #2 seed and only sent nine player deep, with all four of five starters playing over 40 minutes.

Atlanta, meanwhile, ended the year on a six-game losing streak. While five came against top-six teams in their respective conferences, that skid also includes an inexcusable 115-114 setback at home to the Charlotte Hornets, who finished just 21-61 with an NBA-worst -10.2 point differential.

Despite the recent setback to the Hawks in early April, the Bulls should come in brimming with confidence against a languishing Atlanta group that’s extremely thing under the basket.

I’ll take Chicago to hand the Hawks, who finished with the worst ATS record in the NBA, yet another setback against the number in this win-or-go-home game.

ATL vs CHI pick: Bulls -2.5 (-118) at FanDuel

Sascha Paruk’s 2023-24 NBA betting record:

• 19-26 moneyline (+2.26 units)
• 24-20-2 ATS (+3.81 units)
• 1-1 over/under (-0.09 units)
• 10-16 player props (-7.32 units)
• 0-3 same-game parlay (-3.00 units)