Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks Game 3 Odds Preview, Betting Stats

The Chicago Bulls will be trying to improve their shaky record as recent road favorites when they visit the Milwaukee Bucks, hoping to take a commanding 3-0 lead with a victory in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series Thursday.

The Bulls are just 3-4 straight-up in their last seven games as road chalk at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark, covering the spread in three of eight after winning 21 of their previous 23.

However, Milwaukee has not been good as a home underdog lately either, going 2-6 SU and 3-5 ATS in its past eight games under that scenario. But one of those two wins actually came against Chicago on April 1, as the Bucks pulled off a 95-91 upset as five-point dogs after losing nine in a row to the Bulls at the Bradley Center.

Milwaukee point guard Michael Carter-Williams had a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds in that win, although he was going up against Chicago backup Aaron Brooks because Derrick Rose did not play while recovering from knee surgery.

Former Marquette star Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with a game-high 25 points in his last trip to his former stomping grounds, and he has been the difference in helping them build a 2-0 series lead heading into Thursday's Bulls vs. Bucks betting matchup. Butler has put together playoff career highs in points in each of the last two playoff games against the Bucks, including 31 in a 91-82 Game 2 win Monday.

Rose scored 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting in Game 2 after totaling 23 points in Game 1, but all of them came in the second half as he missed his first seven shots. Rose also added a game-high nine assists and seven rebounds.

Milwaukee has lost eight straight postseason games dating back to 2010, covering the spread in just one of them, a 98-86 loss to the Miami Heat as 14-point road dogs. The under is 7-1-1 in the team’s past nine playoff games, with the lone over taking place in Game 1 of this series against Chicago, which resulted in a 103-91 loss.

The Bulls have seen two of their last three postseason games go under the total after the over cashed in on each of their previous five along with 11 of 13. Chicago has won eight of the past nine meetings with the Bucks overall now, going 7-2 ATS according to the OddsShark NBA Database.