The 2012 Olympic Games have reached the semifinals in men's basketball. On Friday, the United States will look to punch their ticket to a gold medal finals when they take on Argentina. The 2012 Olympics Basketball United States vs. Argentina start time is set for 4:00 p.m. Friday and it will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network. Currently the odds for this game have the United States favored by 25 points.
Both of these teams played back in pool play with the Americans running Argentina out of the gym, 126-97. While many would think beating the same team twice within a week by 30 points would be difficult, the oddsmakers have released an interesting line in this one at 25 points. The United States has essentially been on cruise control the entire Olympic games and beat up on Australia by 33 points in their last game on Wednesday to open the medal rounds.
In the previous game against Argentina, the Americans were able to get points from every single player on their team, led by Kevin Durant's 28 points and LeBron James' 18. Chris Paul, Kevin Love, Andre Iguodala and Kobe Bryant all finished in double figures as well. Argentina actually shot an impressive percentage, knocking down almost 60% of their shots, but the United States buried 20 of 39 shots from 3-point range to keep Argentina away at all times. The Americans have also hung their hats on playing defense and rebounding in this tournament and held a 13-board advantage overall in the first meeting between the clubs.
It's hard to think that the Americans are going to lose outright at any point in this tournament. Even after blowing nearly everyone out to date, the oddsmakers are still believing that the United States can win by more than 20 points. That's still a lot to ask of a team that has played nearly 10 games in 10 days, but it has really seemed effortless for the United States so far in this tournament.
Free Pick: Laying this many points at this point in the tournament doesn't seem like the sharp thing to do, but with how bad the Americans have been beating up on people, it's really difficult to scoop up any points with the underdog. I don't think that Argentina is going to score close to 100 again, so there is a potential to play the UNDER overall on the bet. However, if we believe the United States can continue to roll up triple digits, taking the OVER doesn't seem like a bad idea here.
Friday, August 10, 2012 Olympics Basketball Schedule and Odds:
United States -25, Over 197.5 points
Argentina +25, Under 197.5 points
Spain -4.5, Over 149 points
Russia +4.5, Under 149 points
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