USA-France basketball odds

The gold medal is on the line in a rematch of the first men’s basketball game of the Olympics, and BetRivers.com is proud to provide a wide variety of USA-France basketball odds and props for Friday, August 6 at 10:30 p.m. ET. Read our predictions, place a bet and get a chance to win with online sports betting PA.

Team USA entered the 2020 Olympics as the prohibitive favorite to win the gold medal but suffered a shocking 83-76 loss to France in the Group A opener. Team USA entered that game as 12-point favorites but blew a ten-point third-quarter lead, with Evan Fournier hitting a clutch three to give France the lead in the fourth quarter, a lead they would never relinquish. Team USA enters Friday’s gold medal game 4-1 straight up and ATS, with the under hitting in three of five games.

Longtime basketball writer Rob Dauster, the co-founder of The Field of 68 Podcast Network is here to provide his take on the USA-France basketball odds for the gold medal game on Friday, August 6.

USA-FRANCE BASKETBALL ODDS: BETTING PREVIEW

USA (4-1) vs. FRANCE (5-0), 10:30 p.m. ET
MONEYLINE: USA -835, France +540
SPREAD: USA -12.5
OVER/UNDER: 175.5
Click here for the full list of USA-France basketball odds.

After all the hand-wringing, after all the narratives decrying the end of American dominance in the sport of basketball, after we had to listen to the hot take artists spew unsubstantiated opinions for weeks on end about the losses that the Americans took this summer, we head into the Friday’s gold medal game with Team USA sitting as 12.5 point favorites against a French team that already owns a win over the stars and stripes in this tournament!

The French made it to the gold medal game after surviving a Luka Doncic triple-double in the semifinals, while Team USA used a 49-13 surge across the second and third quarters to turn a 15-point deficit into a blowout win. It took a while, but the Americans have figured this thing out. When they guard the way that they can guard and when their stars decide they’re going to take over, there’s not much that anyone can do.

Before we get into the gold medal game, let’s first discuss a little bit about that loss in the opening game of pool play. A couple things happened that night. For starters, Team USA started Bam Adebayo and Draymond Green together, something that Gregg Popovich quickly learned was not a good idea. When those two are on the floor, there is just not enough spacing, a major problem when you’re going up against a team with Rudy Gobert on it. Not only is he the best rim protector on planet earth, but he has a massive size advantage in the paint on the offensive end. The whole point of small-ball is to be able to force guys like Rudy Gobert to have to defend on the perimeter. When both Green and Bam are on the floor, he doesn’t have to do that. That’s a problem.

That game was also the first that Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Devin Booker played in. Think about this for a second. After a grueling Finals that capped off a rugged playoffs at the end of an insane, compacted NBA season that came on the heels of the bubble, those three flew to Seattle on a Friday to get on a private plane that flew them to Tokyo on a Saturday to play in a game on the other side of the planet on a Sunday.

And you’re surprised that they did not play well?

And that’s before you factor in that Kevin Durant, who is Team USA’s best player, played just 20 minutes in that game due to foul trouble.

The Americans are rightly favored, and I fully expect them to win gold.

But … that line just feels too high. France wins with their defense. That’s why they were a medal contender heading into this event. It’s not just Gobert. Nic Batum is a great defender. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot can guard. I think they do enough to keep this thing low-scoring, to keep it interesting and to cover the 12.5.

USA OLYMPIC BASKETBALL RESULTS
76-83 loss, France
120-66 win, Iran
119-84 win, Czech Republic
95-81 win, Spain (QF)
97-78 win, Australia (SF)

FRANCE OLYMPIC BASKETBALL RESULTS
83-76 win, USA
97-77 win, Czech Republic
79-62 win, Iran
84-75 win, Italy (QF)
90-89 win, Slovenia (SF)