Three down, three to go for Crew USA. After stomping via the group stage with an undefeated 3-0 report and a dominant +64 level differential, the People have earned the No. 1 seed within the knockout stage of the 2024 Paris Olympics and are midway to a gold medal in Paris.
In fact, the primary three video games have been the straightforward half. That is the place issues get more durable. Solely eight of the 12 groups within the discipline stay, and in contrast to the group stage, there are not any second possibilities. If you happen to lose, you are out, and Crew USA’s first single-elimination contest within the Olympics will come in opposition to a foe it hasn’t seen in almost three many years. Crew USA has a 9-0 report in opposition to Brazil within the Olympics, however their final bout got here all the best way again in 1996. Not even LeBron James is sufficiently old to have performed in that one, so this can be a group of Brazilian Olympians that Crew USA has by no means seen.
So what can Crew USA count on in opposition to Brazil? Listed below are our greatest bets for Tuesday’s contest:
Crew USA vs. Brazil
The ultimate two video games Crew USA performs within the Olympics could but be troublesome. This one should not be. Brazil misplaced by double digits to each France and Germany. It wanted to shoot 61% from 3-point vary to get by Japan. We could be trustworthy and say the first motive Brazil superior was its draw. Had it been part of Group A, the group of dying, it probably goes 0-3 in opposition to any mixture of these groups. Spain is the superior staff however received the more serious draw. It nonetheless solely completed a single level behind Brazil within the point-differential standings. Brazil’s solely present NBA participant is Gui Santos, at the moment on a non-guaranteed cope with the Warriors. The expertise simply is not right here. The Decide: Crew USA -27
When Brazil confronted France in group play, it received out to a sizzling begin and scored 23 factors within the first quarter. The staff then scored 22 within the subsequent two quarters mixed when Rudy Gobert returned from early foul hassle and Victor Wembanyama took over the sport defensively. That ought to provide you with a tough thought of what will occur when Crew USA unleashes its greatest defenders on this matchup. Certain, Brazil might get sizzling from three once more, however this roster simply has no capacity to really penetrate the paint in opposition to elite rim-protection. Brazil’s level guard is 41 years outdated. The Decide: Below 184.5
Inflated line alert! Bruno Caboclo went scoreless in opposition to France. He scored six factors in opposition to Germany. After which he scored 33 factors in opposition to an overwhelmed Japanese lineup that was winless in group play. Now he is taking part in in opposition to Crew USA and his line is about at 14.5 factors at Caesars. Bruno Caboclo performed 105 NBA video games and went over this whole precisely 5 occasions. Scoring in opposition to Japan and scoring in opposition to NBA superstars are fully completely different duties. There is a little bit of novelty constructed into this line. NBA followers have heard of Caboclo. They’ve heard Fran Fraschilla’s well-known “two years away from being two years away” description and have probably achieved the mathematics that it has been 10 years since he mentioned that. They might even have seen that he simply scored 33 factors in a sport. That was a one-time prevalence. The Decide: Caboclo Below 14.5 Factors.