Basketball Olympics, semi-finals, Thursday, 08.08.2024, 21:00
I hope that my USA Serbia tip can soon be followed by a Germany USA tip. Because the long-awaited dream final between the world champions and the “Dream Team 2.0” is actually brewing at this Olympic tournament.
Admittedly, it’s not that far away and you should never write off a team like the Balkan ballers prematurely. Nevertheless, I just don’t see the conditions for a sensation against the ever-improving NBA all-star selection
Well, what can you say about the US team? Brazil scored 87 points against them. That was more points than any other team put on the scoreboard in regulation time in this quarter-final.
But the “Dream Team 2.0” surpassed this with an astronomical 122 points, without ever giving the South Americans a serious chance of making this game even halfway exciting.
Operation “Gold” thus continues to go according to plan: the USA dominate across the board and have not allowed any opponent to get within 17 points of them so far
It would be pointless to single out one particular American at this point, as the great strength of this team remains its ability to keep the pressure constantly high over 40 minutes thanks to its high number of superstars.
What I do remember, however, were the five three-pointers made by Devin Booker and the whistling from the French fans against “their countryman” Joel Embiid, who was unwilling to play.
In short: In my opinion, the Americans are simply too good for the rest of the field and will only encounter problems in a possible dream final against world champions Germany.
The Serbs, for their part, slept through the start of their match against Australia without ever really finding their game afterwards.
Although they were ultimately able to force overtime and then gain the upper hand, I still got the impression that they weren’t working well enough as a collective.
Nikola Jokić and Bogdan Bogdanović are of course great players, and the rest of the squad is also impressive.
But the deficits in terms of athleticism and squad depth can make the difference at this level against top-class medal candidates
Because in the end, unfortunately, you have to ask the Serbs the following question: How many more times do you actually want to lose to the US team, which is both technically and physically gifted to you?
On July 17, the Serbs lost a test match against the USA 79:105 and even 84:110 in the group stage.
In both cases, Nikola Jokic was unable to score more than 20 points, which was primarily due to the North Americans’ strong defense.
More problematic for the Balkan ballers, however, are the wide-ranging opportunities for the NBA pros to get to the basket in very different ways
The USA are much more consistent and, above all, more focused in their performances than in the group stage.
They are losing the ball less often and there have also been a drastic drop in tension since the start of the knockout phase.
You have to remind yourself of this fact if you want to understand why I simply can’t believe that the Serbs will successfully come back from the knockout stage.
The USA committed more fouls than the Balkans in the group stage clash – many of them unnecessary – and also committed more turnovers (17:13).
Nevertheless, the North Americans, who were not yet well-rehearsed at this early stage, were able to win this opening game with a 26-point difference. Now that these professionals have come together better, however, the tendency to make mistakes should be much lower.
My USA Serbia betting tip therefore assumes that it will be at least as clear a victory as was the case in the preliminary round
Conclusion: There have been too many one-sided encounters between the two teams in Serbia’s best line-up recently to suddenly believe in a big turnaround now.
No, the bet-at-home voucher should not be inaugurated with a bet that assumes even the slightest surprise.
The athleticism and huge advantages in terms of squad depth will ensure that the top favorite will once again slowly but surely pull away on the scoreboard over the entire duration of the match.
My USA Serbia tip: The NBA stars win with handicap -17.5.
