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Boston Celtics at Chicago Bulls (-4.5, 179)
Boston and Chicago are set to do battle on Thursday night in a potential preview of the upcoming Eastern Conference finals. The Bulls have the inside track on the No. 1 seed and they are three games clear of the Celtics and Heat.

These two teams have faced each other three times this season, with Boston leading the head-to-head series 2-1. After winning a pair of home games in November and December, the Celtics fell at Chicago 90-79 on Jan. 8. They’ll have to do a better job on the glass against one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA. Boston actually won the boards battle by 10 on Dec. 3, but the Bulls dominated 43-31 in rebounds on Nov. 5 and 48-27 on Jan. 8.

PLAYOFF PREVIEW

The Celtics (54-23, 36-39-2 ATS) are coming off another potential playoff preview, as they went up against Philadelphia at home on Tuesday and hammered the Sixers 99-82. Boston featured a balanced scoring attack and shot 52.6 percent from the floor while limiting its opponents to 39.3 percent shooting.

“We’re not going to play those guys [the Bulls and Heat] in the first round,” Rajon Rondo told the Boston Globe afterward. “Tonight was a good test for us. (The Sixers) might be a first-round team and we did a good job making a little statement as far as it’s going to be difficult to beat us in a seven-game series.”

How about just one game? That’s what Chicago (57-20, 46-29-2 ATS) will be looking to do on Thursday, but the visitors probably won’t have a backer in Philadelphia head coach Doug Collins.

“We ran up against a team that played probably as well as they’ve played in a long time,” Collins told the Globe after Tuesday’s loss.

The Celtics, furthermore, are the healthiest they have been in a while. Although Shaquille O’Neal will almost certainly miss the game with a calf strain, the team is used to playing without him (Shaq has missed 22 of Boston’s last 23).

TRENDING TOPICS

The Celtics are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 home games.

The Bulls are 0-4 ATS in their last four home games and 1-4 ATS in their last five overall.

The under is 8-2 in Boston’s last 10 road contests and 12-3 in its last 15 overall. However, the over is 8-2 in Chicago’s last 10 overall.

Head-to-head, the Bulls are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings with the Celtics and the under is 9-3 in the last 12 at the United Center.

Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz

Portland and Utah will be going head-to-head for the fourth time this season when they collide on Thursday night. The Jazz went on the road to win 103-94 back on Nov. 11, but the Trail Blazers got revenge twice in December; 96-91 at Utah and 100-89 at home three days later.

Interestingly, Portland’s Brandon Roy missed all three games. Knee injuries have kept him out for two extended stretches during this campaign, and both coincided with contests against Utah. Roy is good to go now the Jazz will get their first look at him on Thursday.

At the same time, though, they will have to do a better job focusing on the Trail Blazers’ LaMarcus Aldridge. The 6-foot-11 power forward is averaging 25.7 in his three outings versus Utah and also pulled down 11 boards in the first showdown.

TRAIL TO THE PLAYOFFS

Portland (45-33, 40-35-3 ATS) got blown out 108-87 at home by Golden State on Tuesday, but it still clinched a playoff spot by virtue of Houston’s loss to Sacramento.

Nonetheless, the Trail Blazers have no reason to sandbag it throughout the remainder of the regular season. They stand in sixth place (which would likely pit them against Dallas in Round 1) but are just one game ahead of eighth-place Memphis, meaning a first-round series against either the Spurs or Lakers is real possibility.

“It's a big concern when you lose,” point guard Andre Miller told OregonLive.com. “We don't want to throw away games, especially at this point when you're trying to position for a playoff spot.”

ALL THAT JAZZ

Which Jazz team will show up on Thursday? That’s a tough call.

Will it be the one that has stumbled through most of the season and had lost eight in a row prior to Tuesday, or will it be the one that just went into the Staples Center and stunned the Western Conference-leading Lakers?

Sample size suggests it will be the former, and the injury report indicates the same. Raja Bell (foot), Kyrylo Fesenko (thumb) Devin Harris (hamstring), and Andrei Kirilenko (knee) are all questionable for Thursday’s clash. All four players have missed at least two straight games.

That is not good news for Utah (37-41, 32-44-2 ATS), who’ll miss Mehmet Okur (back, out for season) and Ronnie Price (calf, out indefinitely).

TRENDING TOPICS

The Trail Blazers are 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 games against teams with losing SU records.

The Jazz are 5-20-1 ATS in their last 26 outings against teams with winning SU records and 1-4 ATS in their last five overall.

The under is 4-0 in Utah’s last four against the Western Conference and 5-0 in its last five overall.

Head-to-head, the over is 7-2 in the last nine meetings between the two teams and the home team is 13-5 ATS in the last 18 encounters. The Trail Blazers are 1-5 ATS in their last six trips to Utah.