Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Chicago Bulls Game 6 Odds Preview, Matchup Stats

While the Chicago Bulls will be trying to stave off elimination in Game 6 of their second-round playoff matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers at home on Thursday, they have already guaranteed a winning series for their backers from a betting perspective by going 4-1 against the spread in the first five games.

In fact, the Bulls are 6-1 ATS in their last seven meetings with the Cavaliers, according to the OddsShark NBA Database, despite going 3-4 straight-up in those games.

Chicago hopes to force a deciding Game 7 on Sunday in Cleveland with a Game 6 victory as a favorite for just the second time in the series, and will likely need power forward Pau Gasol to return from a hamstring injury to make that happen.

Gasol has missed the past two meetings with the Cavaliers, with the latest absence on Tuesday in Game 5, which resulted in a 106-101 road loss. The Bulls put together a furious comeback after trailing 97-82 with less than seven minutes remaining, pulling to within 101-99 with 1:18 left before coming up short but covering the 5.5-point spread, per the NBA betting lines at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.

Both teams topped the century mark in scoring for the first time in the series as the over cashed for totals bettors in a Cavaliers vs. Bulls betting matchup for the third time in the last four games.

LeBron James led the Cavs with his best shooting game of the series, totaling a game-high 38 points on 14 of 24 attempts (58 percent). James was shooting 38 percent from the field through the first four games. Cleveland saw point guard Kyrie Irving add 25 points while playing on a sore foot.

Meanwhile, Chicago point guard Derrick Rose had his worst shooting game of the series, making only seven of 24 attempts (29 percent) with a sore wrist. Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with a team-high 29 points for his best game of the series, and they were able to rally by being aggressive and converting 26 of 28 shots from the free-throw line (93 percent).

Still, the team was outrebounded 41-40 and definitely missed Gasol inside along with his replacement, Taj Gibson, who was ejected early in the fourth quarter following a Flagrant Type 2 foul on Cleveland guard Matthew Dellavedova, which is being reviewed by the league and may or may not result in a suspension.