2024 Paris Olympics Basketball Odds & Picks: Thursday (8/1)
There are four Women’s Basketball games on the schedule to start the month of August in the Olympics. The slate will have exciting games, including the United States against Belgium.
We’ll break down that matchup with another must-watch women’s matchup between Australia and Canada scheduled for early morning.
Get instant alerts when a line reaches your target via the BettingPros App >>
Thursday’s Best Women’s Olympic Basketball Bets
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Australia vs. Canada
The Australian Women’s team is nothing like the Men’s team. They already lost 75-62 to Nigeria and no player had more than six points off the bench. The squad is led by Ezi Magbegor, who plays for the Seattle Storm. But she didn’t even score in double figures and took just nine shots. However, Alanna Smith, another WNBA player for the Lynx, drained 6-of-9 from the field and scored 15 points with seven rebounds.
Australia will need to make adjustments. However, on paper, they are certainly better than their performance in the first game. Ultimately, the Australian defense still held Nigeria to 35.3% from the field overall.
On the other hand, Canada looked atrocious against France in their opener. Canada got an 18-15 lead after the first quarter but scored just two points in the second quarter. Canada never looked back from there. However, in the rest of the game, the Canadians were competitive. That’s why I’m viewing this blowout loss a little differently.
Canada is led by WNBA player Kia Nurse, who scored 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting. But, like Australia, the bench just didn’t come through. Aaliyah Edwards was expected to give a jump off the bench for Canada, but she only added one point in 21 minutes.
That’s not encouraging at all.
Both teams will have to improve for Game 2 of the Olympics. I’d trust Australia to do that more.
Pick: Australia -7.5 (-108)
USA vs. Belgium
The United States is back in action after scoring 102 points against Japan in the opening game. The United States beat Japan in every quarter and had every player off the bench contribute with at least two points. A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart were terrific around the rim. They led the USA to shoot 54.5% from the field.
Despite shooting 20% from downtown, the United States still won by a hefty margin. Japan’s game plan was to rack up threes because the Japanese knew they couldn’t find many open shots around the rim.
The USA will play Belgium in their second game of the Olympics. Belgium lost its opener to Germany with a score of 83-69 after trailing 25-11 in the first quarter. Germany had been up 46-25 at halftime and just cruised in the second half.
If nothing else, Belgium has some good players, including Emma Meesseman, whom the Mystics drafted in the 2013 WNBA draft. However, she’s currently not in the WNBA and is playing in a Belgium professional league instead. Julie Vanloo is the other star player on the squad. She’s currently on the Mystics and won the Belgian National Team the EuroBasket Women 2023.
But the lack of depth is concerning. In addition, Belgium was awful from downtown. They shot worse than Japan did against the United States. Therefore, expect the USA to win by a massive deficit.
Pick: USA -23 (-108)
BettingPros Podcast
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn