Now that this has climbed to 9 points, the Bulls will have Alex Caruso and the Celtics will be without reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, let's roll with it. Chicago is playing its best ball of the season and Nik Vucevic has been a double-double machine of late. The Bulls are 2-1 in the season series and that loss was by 4 points. DeMar DeRozan is averaging 33.0 ppg in the series, his second-highest average against any opponent this season (minimum of two games played). Boston looks a bit bored lately and is 1-4 ATS in its past five.

The Bulls are 3-0 ATS versus Boston. They have won two of those three matchups, losing the meeting in Boston by four. They enter Monday on a three-game win streak with Zach LaVine letting fly from deep. He's made at least four treys in five of the past 10 games, including going 17 of 25 from beyond the arc in the last two, wins over the Jazz and 76ers. Marcus Smart is out for Boston, which is just 7-7 SU over its last 14 games. Take the points.

The Bulls have had a strange season. They seem to play well against the best teams in the league, but struggle significantly against the bad ones. Over their last seven games, they went 6-1 against the spread. In five of the six games that they covered, they were underdogs. They have played the Celtics three times already, going 2-1 straight up with their lone loss coming by only four points in Boston. Add in Marcus Smart (knee) being out and the Bulls could once again give the Celtics a good fight.