Top-rated sportsbooks have released their odds for Sunday’s Olympics action.
Two men’s basketball games are scheduled, Puerto Rico vs. South Sudan and USA vs. Serbia. In addition to those games, I am also interested in the tennis match between Jaume Antoni Munar Clar and Alexander Zverev.
For your best bets, I will recommend investing in all three underdogs: Puerto Rico, Serbia, and Munar.
Puerto Rico vs. South Sudan (basketball)
Sunday, July 28, 2024 – 05:00 AM ET at Pierre Mauroy Stadium
Bad Spot for South Sudan
South Sudan is a popular bet to win its game against Puerto Rico.
The reason why so many people are high on South Sudan is because it nearly upset Team USA. However, I think that this is precisely the reason why one should bet against South Sudan, especially now that it is favored.
Against Team USA, South Sudan clearly gave its absolute best effort. You can’t blame them for doing so: they wanted to pull off an incredible upset and give themselves a lifelong memory.
However, in giving their best against Team USA, they created quite a film reel of themselves for Puerto Rico to study. Puerto Rico, as a result, has a better opportunity to be more prepared for this matchup.
Rematch
The result that I find more revealing of how this game will proceed is the 101-96 win that Puerto Rico achieved against South Sudan when they last played in group play in August of last year.
That win is telling not simply because Puerto Rico won, but because it did so without its best player, Jose Alvarado. Alvarado is going to be the best man on the court on Sunday. The talented guard plays for the New Orleans Pelicans.
Conversely, South Sudan’s best scorer Carlik Jones played in that game, as did fellow former NBA player Mariel Shayok. So, Puerto Rico has seen and withstood South Sudan’s best talent even without having Alvarado.
Basketball Pick: Puerto Rico ML (+100) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
USA vs. Serbia (basketball)
Sunday, July 28, 2024 – 11:15 AM ET at Pierre Mauroy Stadium
Figuring Out Team USA
The Americans’ poor play is creating a host of doubters. How valid are these doubts?
Most recently, they were nearly upset by South Sudan, a team that was dogged by over 40 points, before almost losing to a Germany squad that is universally viewed as inferior to Team USA.
Clearly, Team USA is not playing to its potential. This means that predicting Sunday’s game cannot be as simple as deciding which team is more talented and by how much. If talent always mattered the most, then the Americans would win every game with ease. Instead, they’re almost losing.
Talent Isn’t Everything
Team USA is enticing to bet on simply because of its talent level. Unfortunately, people have a video game-like understanding of sports – they think that the team that’s better on paper will also win in real life.
The main problem is that Team USA is not much of a team.
There are strong chemistry issues that come into play when you take a group of stars who are used to being the primary operator on their own respective NBA teams.
Serbia’s Chemistry
Team USA’s opponents don’t have this chemistry issue. Serbia, which is coming off a drubbing of Giannis-led Greece, likewise doesn’t have this chemistry issue.
Plus, they have annual MVP candidate Nikola Jokic, who is always very difficult for NBA teams to contain with his combination of inside scoring movies and excellent passing.
Serbia is the better team – in terms of playing like a team – at attractive odds.
Basketball Best Bet: Serbia +12.5 (-110) at BetOnline
Jaume Munar vs. Alexander Zverev (tennis)
Zverev’s Time on the Court
Alexander Zverev has developed a statistically expressible reputation for spending a uniquely long period of time on the court. He is clutch with his serve, sure, but he also repeatedly gets himself into difficult situations against inferior opponents.
Indeed, Zverev exited his last tournament, Wimbledon, by choking away a 2-0 set lead against the lower-seeded American Taylor Fritz. Another example from this year is Zverev’s thrilling win over the lower-seeded Cameron Norrie.
My point here is that one should look to bet the underdog against Zverev.
Munar on Clay
Now, not every underdog is so competitive against Zverev. But Munar is going to bring his best version of himself because Sunday’s match will take place on clay.
Munar loves this sort of surface more than any other surface. Various stats show what I mean: for example, Munar’s return point win percentage and break point percentage both improve on clay relative to other surfaces.
Tennis Best Bet: Munar +5.5 (-121) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
