USA vs. Venezuela Olympic Basketball Expert Predictions

Part of the allure of the Olympic Games is watching athletes who have trained their whole lives for their moment in the sun. These are men and women who will probably never see a whole lot of fan adoration, and who will likely head back to full-time jobs when the Games are over. The same cannot be said in the men’s basketball tournament, as it features a slew of household names that we are all used to watching in the NBA. It can be argued that these guys don’t really belong in an event like this, but what can’t be argued is that it makes the games in the Olympic basketball tournament a whole lot more entertaining, albeit sometimes one-sided. The games that fall into that latter category are the ones that feature the latest version of the US Dream Team. That bunch will hit the court again on Monday night, and if it’s a game that you plan on wagering on, I suggest that the betting lines you pay attention to are the point spread and the OVER/UNDER.

USA vs. Venezuela Olympic Basketball Expert Predictions

When: Monday, Aug 8 at 6 PM EST
Where: Carioca Arena, Rio
TV: NBCSN
Olympic Basketball Odds: TBA

Why Bet on the USA?

The bigger question here is why would you consider betting against the US men’s basketball team? The reality of the situation here is that you could put together any combination of 5 players on the US roster and still have a team capable of beating every other team in the tournament quite handily. The US opened up their Olympic on Saturday, routing China 119-62 in a victory that everyone saw coming. As I mentioned at that start of this piece, you are not going to win any real money betting this team to win, so you really have to look at the spread and the point totals for value here. Given that this group will not want to be considered the worst of the Olympic Dream Team’s, always look for them to pile on the pain.

Why Bet on Venezuela?

Venezuela are in the Olympic men’s basketball tournament thanks to a win at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship, where they beat Argentina in the final. Things figure to be a little tougher here, as they quickly found out in an 86-62 loss to Serbia in their opening game. The Venezuelans faced the US during the warm-ups for the Olympics, and ended up going down 80-45 in that one. What was most notable from that game was that a lot of the US shooters did not play particularly well, which is not something that is likely to be repeated in a game that really matters.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

This is yet another mismatch on the road to what should be a gold medal for the US men’s basketball team. We are looking at a potential rout here, especially since Venezuela has no NBA players of their own to counter with.

Score Prediction: USA 105 Venezuela 51