OLYMPICS MEN’S BASKETBALL
PUERTO RICO VS. SERBIA – 7/31 8:15AM
Serbia looks to get a win Wednesday morning with a matchup against Puerto Rico. This is a must win game for Serbia in order to keep their medal hopes alive after losing their first game to the US and they feature much greater NBA talent headlined by 3 time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. Serbia is currently favored by 17 points and after Jose Alverado sprained his ankle in Puerto Rico’s loss to South Sudan it just does not seem likely at all that Puerto Rico will win this game. With that being said I am looking at another performance double in this game since it’s safe to assume Serbia will win. Jokic was able to get 8 assists against Team USA in a game where his teammates faced a significantly better defense. With his teammates going up against much lesser defenders this time look for Jokic to be the playmaker and get his teammates involved on the offense.
The Pick: PLAYER PERFORMANCE DOUBLE – Nikola Jokic 8+ Assists/ SERBIA to Win
UNITED STATES VS. SOUTH SUDAN – 7/31 12:00PM
The rematch we’ve all been waiting for happens Wednesday at noon when Team USA takes on South Sudan. These teams played each other in an exhibition matchup just ten days ago with South Sudan coming into that game as a 42.5 point underdog. South Sudan managed to lead most of the game, at times by 20 points.The US rallied in the 4th quarter to comeback and won by 1 after South Sudan missed a shot at the end of regulation to win. South Sudan is currently a 29.5 point underdog for the rematch on Wednesday (bets on South Sudan to cover this are not a bad play at all). Regardless of whatever side of the spread you think is likely to win in this game it’s still safe to assume that Team USA will not lose. A player performance double is going to be another great way to get value out of this lopsided matchup. Kevin Durant finally played last Sunday after sitting out the exhibition game slate for Team USA and he reminded the world why he’s the all time leading scorer for this program. With 23 points in 17 minutes off 8-9 FG shooting against one of the better teams in the entire Olympic tournament there’s no reason why he can’t replicate that kind of performance against South Sudan (who did not get to face him in their previous matchup and will have a more difficult time game planning against him now). Look for KD to score big again and Team USA to win.
The pick: PLAYER PERFORMANCE DOUBLE – Kevin Durant 20+ Points/ USA to win
LONG SHOT PLAY OF THE DAY:
4 Leg Parlay
Nikola Jokic 8+ Assists
Bogdan Bogdanovic 20+ Points
LeBron James 8+ Assists
Kevin Durant 20+ Points
The odds on this when I built it were +4774. A $5 Wager would win $238.71.