On Saturday, the Women's Basketball Olympic Gold Medal Game USA vs. France will decide the best women's team in the world. The game is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network. Currently the odds for the matchup have the USA favored by 21.5 points with the total sitting at 149.5 points.
These teams haven't met up in this Olympic Games yet, but in this gold medal matchup between tough teams, the Americans will have several pieces of history riding on the line. First off, a United States win in this game would give them 40 straight victories at the Olympic Games and a fifth consecutive gold medal. Say what you want about dominance, but in the world of women's sports, winning 40 straight games and five straight gold medals seems pretty damn cool. I think they can do it. The Australians were tabbed by many as the second best team in the tournament, but we all saw how that worked out for the Aussies. The USA pulled away late and only won by 13, but controlled the game in the second half.
After just a 13-point win in the opening round of the women's playoff tournament against Australia, I think a lot of points are going to be put up by the United States tonight. They've been averaging well into the upper 80s in each of their games and much like the men, haven't lost yet and haven't really come close.
The point spread is interesting because if we take the averages of both teams and put them together, we get 163 points, which is a total of nine points HIGHER than the projected total by the oddsmakers. In other words, the game probably isn't going to favor the American's style and will presumably be slowed down by the clunky Australian team that is trying to stay in the contest at any cost. It very well could be a big struggle for the United States to get to their average in this game based on how the French will have to play.
Free Pick: We're still going to lay the points with the Americans in this contest if only for the sheer dominance they've shown so far in the Olympics. They've won be a collective average of nearly 38 points per game and if they were to do that again in today's game, it'd be something really special. We don't think they'll win by 40 but we'll take half of that and say they at least cover their 22 points.
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