Pinnacle -6 -114 BET365 -6½ -110 Sportsinteraction -6½ -105 888Sport -6½ -117

Posted July 29, 2024 at 10:30pm. Odds subject to change.

The Olympics: Men's Basketball

Paris, France - Live on Peacock

Wager: Canada -6½ (-105 at SportsInteraction)

7:30 AM EST. Team Canada is filled with more NBA players than any other non-American roster in Olympics history. It already showed in their opening contest. Although they merely beat Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Greeks by 7 points, Team Canada controlled the contest from start to finish. They let Giannis put up 34 points, but the next highest scorer only got to 17, and Canada never looked out of control. Three of their leaders; Dillon Brooks, Shae-Gilgeous Alexander and RJ Barrett, combined for 58 points. It looked like what many openers do, full of a few predictable hiccups, yet the Canadians still prevailed with ease. Fueled by a desire to prove that they can unseat the Americans, Canada plays with an attitude in the clutch, a factor that could mean gold if the U.S. falls out-of-sync in the same moments. Although not terribly tall, Canada has a legion of tough defenders (Dwight Powell, Dillon Brooks, Kelly Olynyk) that can pester and make life difficult for opposing offenses.

Team Australia is good at offense, that's rarely been the problem, but their opponent Tuesday is easily the best defense they'll face in Group A. The Boomers are led by NBA veteran Patty Mills and versatile point guard Josh Giddey, but you wouldn't recognize other names unless you were an avid fan of the Australian National Basketball League. Not that they don't have a formidable team. The Boomers are only 6.5-point underdogs against the second-favorite to win gold for a reason, but their talent and depth still can't touch a historic Canadian roster. This is equivalent to a top-tier NBA team playing very motivated basketball against a medium-tier team with average talent - like a Timberwolves vs. Hawks-type situation. We're positive that team Australia will play very hard and bring passion to this battle, but the Canadians are double-digits better from where we're sitting and we'll take the bargain to win 2-units.  

Farley

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------