Here comes the Olympic Betting Basketball with twelve nations are represented in the Paris Summer Games’ men’s five-on-five competition.
The teams are divided into three groups with four teams each. Group play will take place in a round-robin format, and each team will play all the others in its group once, for a total of three group-play games.
The top two teams in each group and the top two third-place teams will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will be seeded on the basis of rankings from performance in group play.
Check out our sports betting thoughts on the four games set for the first day of action.
Olympic Betting Basketball: Men’s Matchday 1 Preview | Saturday, July 27
Australia (-5.5) vs Spain (O/U 166.5)
Group A, 5:00 am ET
Spain brings a lot of continuity to these Games as 39-year-old Rudy Fernandez continues to lead the team.
He is more of a role player than a major contributor, but he did average 14.0 minutes per game in the World Cup last year. This team will rely on its NBA talent, including Willy Hernangómez.
Australia is a young, fun team to watch with such NBA youngsters as Josh Green, Jock Landale, and Dyson Daniels.
Patty Mills and Joe Ingles also have NBA experience and are international veterans. Mills put up 21.7 points per game in the 2020 Olympics and 19.0 points per contest in last year’s World Cup.
Olympic Basketball Pick: Australia to win and cover.
^Germany (-17.5) vs Japan (O/U 174)
Group B, 7:30 am ET
Germany almost beat the United States in warm-up action and enters as the defending 2023 FIBA World Cup champions.
They have all kinds of NBA talent, including Dennis Schroder, Moritz Wagner, Franz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, and Daniel Theis. Schroder has averaged more than 19 games in eight FIBA World Cup contests.
Japan is led by NBA player Rui Hachimura, who put up 22.3 points per game in the 2020 Olympics while knocking down 38.1 percent of his shots from downtown.
However, Japan lost all three of their group-play games by double figures. That included a 35-point loss to Serbia.
Olympic Basketball Pick: Germany to win and cover.
^France (-13) vs Brazil (O/U 161.5)
Group B, 11:15 am ET
Victor Wembyana is just one of a group of talented NBA players on the French squad. Between him and Rudy Gobert, the FIBA rules mean that they should be able to shut down the rim for the whole tournament.
In the NBA, defensive players can’t just hang out in the free-throw lane, even in a zone defense, but there is no such rule in international basketball.
France has lost four straight warmup games, including a one-point setback to Australia, so this line seems large.
Their guard play is on the iffy side as well in terms of offensive production.
Brazil brings in guards such as Marcelinho Huertas and Raul Neto, along with former NBA prospect Bruno Caboclo, so this game could get interesting, at least looking at the point spread.
Brazil was able to hold off Latvia to get into the Olympics, and they look to continue that momentum in their group play opener.
Olympic Basketball Pick: Take the under.
^Greece (+8) vs Canada (O/U 171.5)
Group A, 3:00 pm ET
Canada took the bronze home in last year’s FIBA World Cup and have such NBA talent as Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks on the roster.
They are the second betting choice behind the United States to take home the gold medal.
Greece’s top player is Giannis Antetokounmpo. Nick Calathes has earned accolades in international basketball, and this might be his last Summer Games at the age of 35. If Giannis can compete at a high level.
However, Serbia beat Greece by more than 20 points in a warm up game this past week.
Olympic Basketball Pick: Canada to win and cover.
^What's KD talking about @TyHaliburton22? pic.twitter.com/tAdWgQl2KR
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 25, 2024
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