USA v Spain – Basketball Olympics 2016
After 4 long years, these two teams face each other once again. This time, instead of in Olympic finals, they will play each other in Semi-finals of this year’s Olympic games in Rio.
Let’s go back in time to year 2012. On 12.8.2012 in London we could see 2 of the best teams in Basketball, battle it out in the finals. USA dominated Group A, winning all 5 matches played against France, Argentina, Lithuania, Nigeria and Tunisia. After coming out of the group stage as a huge favourite to win the gold, they still had to defeat Australia (119:86), Argentina (83:109) in Quarter and Semi-finals and of course Spain in the finals. As the results show, they dominated all the opponents, that stood in their way to gold medal.
As for Spain, they did not do as well as USA in group stage, finishing at 3rd place, behind Russia and Brazil. On the way to finals, they defeated France (59:66) and Russia (67:59). The finals are always interesting to watch, but that game was over the expectations. It was a really close match, with halftime score being 59:58 for USA. The next 2 quarters did not let any fan down as it was a close match until the end, when USA won (107:100).
Now Spain has a great opportunity to revenge their loss, but it won’t be an easy task. USA is really strong team and is coming from a huge win over Argentina (105:78). The story is actually same as in London. USA has yet to lose a match in this year’s Olympic games. They had some close matches against Serbia (94:91) and France (100:97), but they did not fail to perform not once.
As for Spain, they as well stomped their previous opponents, Lithuania (109:59), Argentina (92:73) and France (92:67), but the question still remains, are they strong enough to stand up to the USA squad?
Statistically, the teams are extremely close. Both shoot 55% on 2pt and are only 0.4% apart, when it comes to 3pt (USA 38.1, Spain 37.7). Rebounds show 39.2 for Spain and 42.8 for USA and Free throws 74.8% for Spain, 76.5% USA.
It’s hard to call a winner looking at those stats, but I do see good odds in OVER/UNDER bet. Both of the teams are aggressive and I do not believe that will change in Semi-finals. With both teams scoring 90+ points per game, the value on Over 186.5 is enough for me to take it.
Prediction: Over 186.5
Odds: 1.92 SBOBET