USA Basketball Odds: Men’s Dream Team Vs. Puerto Rico On Saturday
Team USA continues to assert itself as the clear favorite in Olympic basketball odds. Serbia was expected to offer a reasonable challenge, but neither they nor South Sudan have made the new Dream Team sweat. Let’s take a look at USA Basketball odds for the final group stage match against Puerto Rico.
See below for the best prices when betting Olympic odds on Team USA basketball. New users can also lock in strong sportsbook promos for the Olympics. This game takes place on Saturday, Aug. 3, at 11:15 a.m. ET on NBC.
USA Basketball Odds vs. Puerto Rico
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Team USA Spread
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Team USA, Puerto Rico On Opposite Ends Of Group
Perhaps it wasn’t quite as dominant as its opening win over Serbia, but Team USA still earned a pretty easy win over South Sudan, 103-86. The Americans won three of the four factors (losing only rebounding) and had a double-digit lead basically the entire way.
Coach Steve Kerr opted to change up the starting lineup, inserting Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum. But, a bench mob led by Bam Adebayo and Kevin Durant vastly outperformed the starters. That will be something to monitor going forward.
Puerto Rico, meanwhile, has not had a single thing go right in Paris. They lost essentially a must-win opener against South Sudan, and Jose Alvarado, their only NBA star on the Olympic basketball roster, sustained an ankle injury. He and the rest of the team subsequently offered no resistance to Nikola Jokic and the Serbs in a 107-66 rout.
Puerto Rico’s loss eliminated them from contention. With the U.S. all but having secured the group, that leaves very little on the line here.
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Has Team USA Met Expectations?
The market seems to think so. While the performance against South Sudan saw the underdogs cover by a fair amount (losing by 17 as +28.5 dogs), Team USA was never in serious danger of losing either of its first two games.
That’s a stark contrast with the up-and-down performances in the exhibition games. Team USA squeaked by several of its Olympic opponents in games that raised some eyebrows.
In the aggregate, Team USA appears to have done enough to slightly increase market confidence. They’re bigger favorites now to win gold than they were at the start of the event.
Part of the calculus may be based on the fact that the opposition hasn’t looked as strong as expected. Canada, France, and Serbia were expected to be the main challengers to Team USA. France was quite fortunate to beat lightly regarded Japan, needing a questionable late foul call in its last game. Serbia looked no match for Team USA, getting drilled in the opener.
Only Canada has really played as well as pundits expected.
Germany has gotten off to a nice start, slightly outperforming the market in each of its first two games. The next game with France may tell the tale of whether this team is a serious threat. They shocked the world by winning gold at last year’s World Championship and possess a roster with significant NBA star power, including Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroeder.
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