The Chicago Bulls, fresh from their first back-to-back wins of the season, travel to face the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena on Monday evening local time, with tip-off at midnight GMT for UK viewers.

Chicago followed an overtime win over Atlanta with a 117-106 victory at Minnesota, while Cleveland, 7-7 and sixth in the East, beat Dallas 127-117 on Saturday with Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and three other rotation players missing that game.

Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers form and outlook

Chicago are 3-9 and 14th in the Eastern Conference, yet back-to-back wins have given Tiago Splitter's side its first real momentum of the season.

Splitter took over in June after Billy Donovan left a Bulls team that went 31-51 and missed the playoffs, while Cleveland won 52 games last season under Kenny Atkinson.

Saturday's win at Minnesota ended the Timberwolves' five-game winning streak and was built on the bench, with Buddy Hield and Tre Jones scoring 16 points each, the reserves outscoring Minnesota's 51-33 and the Bulls hitting 14 of 30 from three.

Those results followed defeats to the Knicks, 76ers and Spurs, and across the last five games Chicago are scoring more than their season rate but still conceding 121.8 points a game.

Cleveland are 2-3 in their last five, scoring 114.4 points and conceding 118.0, but they remain 5-2 at home this season with a points differential of +4.7.

Both teams played the second night of a back-to-back on Saturday, so each has one day's rest, and Friday's flight ground stop disrupted travel for both, with Chicago reaching Minneapolis only on game day and Cleveland flying home on Saturday morning.

Cleveland's net rating is +1.6 against -10.9 for Chicago, and the Cavaliers shoot 47.1% from the field compared with 44.6% for the Bulls.

Turnovers are the clearest mismatch, since Chicago give the ball away 17.3 times a game and Cleveland 13.5, which hands the home side extra possessions against a defence already allowing 125.9 points per game.

Chicago play at 103.8 possessions per game against 99.7 for Cleveland, and every one of the Bulls' seven road games has gone over 220 points, which makes the total the steadier angle here.

Chicago's road games average a combined 235.6 points and Cleveland's home games 231.9, with five of the Bulls' seven away games and four of the Cavaliers' seven home games passing 230, so scoring volume is the part of this game that has been most consistent.

Who is available for Bulls vs. Cavaliers?

Caleb Wilson is out with a hand injury expected to keep him sidelined for four to six weeks, while Jalen Smith (finger), Nicolas Claxton (hamstring) and Tobe Awaka were all ruled out for Chicago's win at Minnesota.

That left Splitter starting Norman Powell, Isaac Okoro, Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis and Zach Collins, with Patrick Williams used at centre late on, and Okoro, Cleveland's fifth overall pick in 2020, was traded for Lonzo Ball in July 2025.

Cleveland's list is longer, since Mitchell, Harden, Peyton Watson and Jarrett Allen all missed the Dallas game and are listed as questionable, as are Evan Mobley (toe) and Sam Merrill (elbow).

With so many Cleveland names questionable, Monday's final injury report decides whether the usual starters return, which is likely, or the reserve group that beat Dallas with an eight-man rotation plays again.

The matchups that could decide Bulls vs. Cavaliers

Giddey has out-assisted Harden this season, and Powell and Mitchell make this a guard matchup in which both sides lean on one scorer.

Mobley rebounds more across the season, although Buzelis has taken more over the last five games and Chicago will need that with Jalen Smith and Nicolas Claxton both ruled out for their last game.

Cleveland's reserves showed their depth against Dallas, where Tyrese Proctor recorded a first career triple-double of 24 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, with three team-mates adding 22, 19 and 18 points.

Player props for Bulls vs. Cavaliers

Bulls and Cavaliers head-to-head record

The teams split last season's series 2-2, with Chicago winning both December meetings, 127-111 at home and 136-125 in Cleveland, and Cleveland taking the November opener and the March rematch.

All four meetings topped 220 combined points, although the rosters have changed heavily since, so the series says more about the matchup's scoring tendencies than about this game.

This is the first meeting of 2026-27, and the return game follows in Chicago a week later on the NBA schedule.

Our Bulls vs. Cavaliers tips and prediction

Cleveland's home record and cleaner ball handling make them the pick, although a Chicago bench that gave Hield and Jones 16 points each on Saturday should stop the margin getting out of hand.

Cleveland score 118.3 points at home while Chicago manage 109.0 on the road and concede 126.6, so a double-digit home win is the likeliest outcome even if the visitors' bench keeps the score respectable.