USA vs France Olympic basketball betting picks – Tokyo 2020

The United States and France are set to clash for the gold medal in the men’s basketball this Saturday (Friday EDT) at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This game will be a rematch of the group stage game between these two teams that saw France upset the USA 83-76 as 11.5-point underdogs.

The United States found themselves down 15 points to Australia in the second quarter of their semifinal this week. Gregg Popovic called a timeout and implored his team to stay focused and keep its composure. The timeout worked, as Kevin Durant scored on the team’s next possession and the ice-cold shooting gave way to a red-hot run. Durant finished the game with a team-leading 23 points as the United States came away with a 97-78 blowout win to advance into the gold medal game.

France’s semifinal game against Slovenia came right down to the last play of the game. Luka Doncic passed the ball to Klemen Prepelic with under 10 seconds left in the game and Prepelic drove to the hoop for what would have been the game-winning lay-up. Instead, Nic Batum made a perfectly timed jump to block the shot, securing a 90-89 victory in the process. Batum finished the game with four blocks and Rudy Gobert also had four blocks to go along with nine points and 16 rebounds.

When they are clicking, this United States team is unstoppable. There is just too much elite talent on the court for any other team in this tournament to handle. The issue, however, has been maintaining focus and energy for all four quarters. This USA squad has been guilty of going into spells of lethargy when shots aren’t falling or fouls aren’t being called.

France has already beaten the United States once in this tournament by taking advantage of one of these USA dry spells. The problem for France in this game is that the first time around, the United States was still getting acclimated to playing together and was never in any legitimate danger of failing to advance out of the group stage. This time around, the United States will be playing for a gold medal and for revenge on France for embarrassing them in the group stage. Given the likelihood that the USA brings its best effort in this matchup, it’s going to be difficult to pick against them.