The 45-37 Chicago Bulls will travel in face the 49-33 Brooklyn Nets in Game 1 of their best of seven NBA playoff series with a pro basketball game on Saturday night. Tip off time for Game 1 from Brooklyn is scheduled for 8PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by ESPN.

The odds from this game one NBA playoff game has the home team Brooklyn Nets favored by -5 points with an over under line of 184 ½ points. There has been no movement in the game one betting line since the odds were released a few hours ago.

The Bulls and Nets have met four times this season with Chicago winning and covering the point spread in three of the four contests. Each team won and covered the point spread once in the two games held at Brooklyn

Chicago has a road mark of 21-20 on the current campaign. The Bulls had a shot of competing for the fourth seed in the Eastern conference but had to settle for the fifth seed as the team goes 5-5 down the stretch. They improved from the sixth seed to the fifth as the close out the regular season with wins against Orlando and Washington and with the Atlanta Hawks losing their final two games of the season. Point guard Derrick Rose has missed the entire regular season as he struggles back from knee surgery. He has practiced with the team for some time now but has reportedly had difficulty achieving the necessary lift for NBA standards. He is questionable for game one and is badly needed. The Bulls were a poor offense this season ranking 29th and second to last in the NBA for points per game with just 93.2 a contest. Shooting wise they ranked in the lower third of the league in field goal and three point accuracy. Defensively the Bulls were a top ten team in all three key areas. Teams were able to score just 92.9 points a game against the Bulls good for third in the NBA in scoring defense.

The Nets are 26-15 playing on their home court. Brooklyn had to earn home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs and achieved this goal by winning six of their past seven games down the stretch. Their offense was a bit inconsistent for much of the season as the team is pretty much a mid-pack team in all key areas except at the free throw line. Brooklyn is 24th in the NBA by making just 73.1% from the charity stripe. Down the stretch we saw an upsurge offensively by the Nets as the team scored 103 points or greater in eight of their past ten games to close the season. On defense Brooklyn held teams to just 95.1 points a game good for sixth in the league in scoring defense.