The Chicago Bulls have an opportunity to close out the Atlanta Hawks and put an end to their somewhat surprising run in the 2011 NBA Playoffs. I’ve been more inclined to base my free sports picks on the Chicago Bulls as the playoffs have progressed and after their game-5 victory at United Center, game 6 will get them one step closer to a dream match-up against the Miami Heat as the Bulls are now a 7-2 favorite to win the 2011 NBA Championship. The Bulls NBA playoff odds rely mainly on the performances of Derrick Rose, but I think his teammates are finally starting to build some postseason chemistry. They may not need the supporting cast to make some noise just yet, but it would be best if they could get it going before opening up their best-of-seven conference finals series against Miami.

The Hawks managed just 15 points in the fourth quarter and could not find a way to stop Derrick Rose from getting into the lane. The scoring was quite balanced for Atlanta as Jeff Teague put up a strong 21-point performance, while Josh Smith chipped in 16 and Joe Johnson finished with 15. Jamal Crawford was held to two points on 1-of-9 shooting though and is now averaging eight points over the last four games. Crawford is this team’s closer and is the only player that can come close to matching the MVP in the final minutes of these important playoff games. I know the Bulls are going to come out with a sense of urgency after watching Miami finish off the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, resulting in their qualification for the Eastern Conference finals. The NBA odds at SBGGlobal.com have the Bulls favored by 3.5 points in game 6 and I would be very surprised if Chicago doesn’t build a big lead early and finish off the Hawks with relative ease.

Chicago received such significant contributions from its deep bench that Coach Tom Thibodeau stuck with second-stringers Taj Gibson, Omer Asik and Ronnie Brewer with the game on the line in the final period. Gibson was especially impressive, scoring 11 points in the fourth and sparking the Bulls with tremendous energy off the bench. Chicago also won the free-throw battle, hitting 21-of-28 from the line in Game 5 while the Hawks made it to the line only 17 times, converting 14. Rose alone attempted 13 free throws and the bottom line is that Chicago will win the two important stat categories again in game 6. When the Bulls outscore their opponents in points from the free-throw line and in bench points, it is very hard to beat them, and they will display that again on Thursday.

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