Tokyo 2020 Men's Olympics Basketball Tournament

[Daniel91]

Anyone here thinks that Slovenia has a chance to win the gold medal?

To answer your question... I'll be honest, being champions I don't know, but I strongly believe that they have a chance of getting a medal (probably bronze).
Slovenia is an excellent team, Luka Dondic carried the team on his back against Argentina (48 points, 6-14 - 3 points), let's see if Luka will continue with that same performance! I will follow the next games.

Luka Doncic is the biggest advantage and disadvantage of the Slovenian team.
Sometimes it seems to me that Slovenia is ''one man show'' when I watch their matches which is not very good.
Slovenia depends too much on Doncic and whoever stops him stops Slovenia.
Yes, Slovenia has a chance for a medal but they are not the main favorites of the tournament.
Apart from the USA, I prefer France and Spain as more experienced and better balanced teams.

[Reid]

Luka Doncic is the biggest advantage and disadvantage of the Slovenian team.
Sometimes it seems to me that Slovenia is ''one man show'' when I watch their matches which is not very good.
Slovenia depends too much on Doncic and whoever stops him stops Slovenia.
Yes, Slovenia has a chance for a medal but they are not the main favorites of the tournament.
Apart from the USA, I prefer France and Spain as more experienced and better balanced teams.

That's a good thing, imo. Doncic can lead and he brought the Mavs to the playoffs because of that rare skill.
Dragic is also the leader type so I think they are not just relying on everything to Luka although they let him run the play most of the time, that's different.

France is strong too. United States will need to bring their best game when they meet at the quarter-finals or it will be France and Slovenia that will most likely battle at the end.

[zanezane]

~

After Euro 2020 I am not trusting the French again, they were clearly favourites and choked in the end. It came down to historic matches and how the teams performed in the past. In my opinion USA is going to be strong favourite. They won so many Gold medals in the past that I wouldn't count them out this year. I lost quite a lot of money in EM 2020 so instead of just betting on some short term performers, I will go this time with the opposite strategy and bet on the best performers in the last Olympia.

That's why I said that if they didn't change their roster for this one because their roster was really good and was on par with team USA at that time. I haven't bet yet since I am saving my coins for the International.

[Yogee]

...
although they let him run the play most of the time, that's different.

I think this is also the case. It's normal to have a star player in every team and Slovenia doesn't have the same individual talents as the USA. It only makes sense for the coach to let him loose and score when he's probably in the best form of his playing life.

[Fredomago]

...
although they let him run the play most of the time, that's different.

I think this is also the case. It's normal to have a star player in every team and Slovenia doesn't have the same individual talents as the USA. It only makes sense for the coach to let him loose and score when he's probably in the best form of his playing life.

Respect to this young super star, he's teammates see the value of his game and the coach allow them to work with him, he's taking over and it's favoring the team. Who doesn't like to see him playing like a monster, he did it with the Mavs playing against those NBA stars. He's bringing that level with high confidence carrying the flag of his country.

His special talent is shining in the NBA and it's extending now here at the olympics. Exciting to see them playing at the finals though too early for that as there are still games to win before it happened, Good luck!

[fullhdpixel]

Luka made history.
Luka Doncic scores 48 points in Olympic debut, Slovenia crushes Argentina

He has oozing confidence, he is a superstar in the NBA, still a superstar in the Olympics. How good this guy is?

Anyone here thinks that Slovenia has a chance to win the gold medal?

Anyone can say whatever they want about their GOAT candidate, but if this kid keeps this up and doesn't get like a horrible injury or anything like that, plays this way for another 10-12 years then I am pretty sure he will be at the top of most GOAT lists. You may think he hasn't shown anything and he doesn't even have a proper playoff success yet, just some wins, but dude is 22 years old with basically no one around him and he still plays quite well, remember Lebron didn't even make it to playoffs on his first year, that is the difference we are talking about here.

I feel like he is going to slowly take all of his team into finals gradually, sort of like how Giannis did it, we may end up seeing some Giannis vs Luka finals if both teams do end up putting decent players around them, Bucks obviously did but Dallas doesn't have much to offer for any trade so it is a bit harder.

[LTU_btc]

4 more games tomorrow. Do or die game between Germany and Nigeria. According to bookies, Nigeria is favorites there.
USA - Iran. Well, I'm already sorry for Iran players. If they will lose by less than 30 points, it will be good achievement already.
Australia - Italy and Czech Republic - France. Favorites is clear here, but IMO Italy and Czech are underrated too much.

[chaser15]

And the discussion now turned into NBA.

Anyways Giannis represents Greece right but his nationality by blood is Nigeria?

Does that mean we might see 3 Antetokoumpo's playings for Nigeria in the future?

[Questat]

And the discussion now turned into NBA.

Anyways Giannis represents Greece right but his nationality by blood is Nigeria?

Does that mean we might see 3 Antetokoumpo's playings for Nigeria in the future?

Well, I can understand that as not everyone of us knows about the roster of a specific team, we will only know some of the players if they play in the NBA and that is usually their star player. This event is a big one, it's also an opportunity for the players to impress the scout so they'll get a chance to play with the NBA, just like what happened with Facundo Campazzo who got an NBA career after the FIBA world IIRC.

[LUCKMCFLY]

A great match between the USA and Iran, many bet on the USA, as it happened, Iran can give a good surprise like France did, the level of Basketball in the Olympics is very high, anything can happen, the hegemony of the USA has been affected, this game against Iran promises:

Iran, meanwhile, fell to the Czech Republic in its first Olympic game despite a valiant comeback effort in the fourth quarter. Behnam Yakhchali totaled 23 points, four assists and three rebounds in the loss.

It's clear Team USA is far superior to Iran in terms of overall talent, but that was also the case for previous matchups that ended in defeat. If the Americans want to get back on the right track, they must treat every opponent with the proper amount of respect, regardless of what the world rankings say.

Source: https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/usa-iran-basketball-time-channel-olympics-schedule/j31ame2q59331i59h6lfbwb1n

I do not have much knowledge of Basketball, but I know that the USA is very strong in this sport, it is a power.

[TimeTeller]

4 more games tomorrow. Do or die game between Germany and Nigeria. According to bookies, Nigeria is favorites there.
USA - Iran. Well, I'm already sorry for Iran players. If they will lose by less than 30 points, it will be good achievement already.
Australia - Italy and Czech Republic - France. Favorites is clear here, but IMO Italy and Czech are underrated too much.

I betted on Nigeria here so let's see what will happen.
Not worth betting on USA as the odds is just like 1.01, unless you want to bet on Iran for possible high take home pay, which has a very very good odds.
But I seriously doubt Iran can beat USA.
On the other hand, I betted on Italy here over Australia. So this will be a good day to watch the action inside the court.

[agustina2]

Not worth betting on USA as the odds is just like 1.01,

Of course, you will skip that 1.01 but instead, you will pick the other betting options if you want to ride in the USA.

Total points seem interesting.

Over 165.5 = 1.81
Over 167.5 = 1.99

[TravelMug]

Nigeria vs Germany is live now, good game as it is very close and I'm not seeing anyone leading as much as 5 points in this game.

And it's a high scoring ball game, I thought this could go not over 165 points but it seems that I'm going to lost my bet. Still in the 2nd quarter score currently 50-47 Nigeria.

Edit: half-time now 50-50.

[Fredomago]

Nigeria vs Germany is live now, good game as it is very close and I'm not seeing anyone leading as much as 5 points in this game.

And it's a high scoring ball game, I thought this could go not over 165 points but it seems that I'm going to lost my bet. Still in the 2nd quarter score currently 50-47 Nigeria.

Edit: half-time now 50-50.

Germany escape and win the game with very close score 97-92, I didn't watch the game but by looking from the scoring quarter per quarter seems that germany excel in the last quarter the first 3 ends up tied.

Looking now with Italy and Aussie, where also have a close match 45-44 in favor of Italy, still a long way to go since there still 2 more quarters before this match ends.

Aussie still the favorite with ML @ 1.55 and -3.5 @ 1.85.

[ingiltere]

I couldn't watch USA - Iran game because it was too early but there were no surprises here. USA won with 54 points difference. If I could make a bet I'd choose at least 30 points margin for USA win.
Now we will watch Czechia and France game, while everybody expect France to win comfortably I wonder what would be the handicap to make bets. By the looks of odds 9 points difference is average expectation, though I expect France to lead at least by 10 points.

[Botnake]

I couldn't watch USA - Iran game because it was too early but there were no surprises here. USA won with 54 points difference. If I could make a bet I'd choose at least 30 points margin for USA win.
Now we will watch Czechia and France game, while everybody expect France to win comfortably I wonder what would be the handicap to make bets. By the looks of odds 9 points difference is average expectation, though I expect France to lead at least by 10 points.

I guess the spread was below 50, so it's an easy win if you could have put a bet on the USA to win, they loss against France, so it's expected that they'll bounce back strong, sad for me too, I have not thought of betting on the USA, that game was lost in my mind.

[Oasisman]

Nigeria vs Germany is live now, good game as it is very close and I'm not seeing anyone leading as much as 5 points in this game.

And it's a high scoring ball game, I thought this could go not over 165 points but it seems that I'm going to lost my bet. Still in the 2nd quarter score currently 50-47 Nigeria.

Edit: half-time now 50-50.

The game went over 165 points and it's one of the most exciting games in the Olympics.
Though Nigeria went short on this one, but Jordan Nwora who just won a ring in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks has displayed amazing performance with 33 points of 65% fg percentage. I honestly don't know he's a member of the Bucks until I've search his basketball background.

[Kelvinid]

Nigeria vs Germany is live now, good game as it is very close and I'm not seeing anyone leading as much as 5 points in this game.

And it's a high scoring ball game, I thought this could go not over 165 points but it seems that I'm going to lost my bet. Still in the 2nd quarter score currently 50-47 Nigeria.

Edit: half-time now 50-50.

The game went over 165 points and it's one of the most exciting games in the Olympics.
Though Nigeria went short on this one, but Jordan Nwora who just won a ring in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks has displayed amazing performance with 33 points of 65% fg percentage. I honestly don't know he's a member of the Bucks until I've search his basketball background.

Same here, I don't even recognize his name, with that points, I think if he is only given enough minutes and exposure by the Bucks, he could be a big asset to the team.  His average on the Bucks is only 5.7 points, with very limited minutes. He is just 22 years old, still more room for improvement.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/nworajo01.html

[ChiBitCTy]

Just 2 games on Monday, but one is definitely worth to watch - Argentina - Slovenia. 2019 World Cup runners-up vs Euro 2017 winners. One of the best European players Doncic vs 41 year old grandpa Luis Scola who is still good at such age.

Still have the chance if I get it right, if they can win all the games that left for them which is very possible after losing this one.

Their next opponent is Iran - weakest team in whole tournament without any doubts. So, I expect big win. Then, Czech Republic. Good team which can give fight, but IMO they aren't capable to beat USA.

Sucks seeing them lose but it's not shocking.  There are only two super stars on the team as most US super stars decided not to play this time around ( Lebron, Leonard, Curry, Thompson, George, Irving, Davis, Zion, Westbrook, Paul, Harden) and I'm probably forgetting one or two others.  So while it was certainly an impressive win, they were playing a USA "B-Team".  Obviously if the US had all it's stars playing they would destroy everyone like they normally do with ease.  Still hope for Gold though of course.

It's excuses. Almost in every major tournament USA have missing some superstars, buti even with B-Team they were destroying all their opponents by 30 points at least. But times had changed. With all superstars probably they would win gold, but I doubt that they would have easy life and would destroy Nigeria by 80 points liker they did in London Olympics.

What are you even taking about? What you wrote really doesn’t make any sense. It’s not excuses, it’s the truth. The vast majority of the United States best players aren’t playing, that’s not an excuse, it’s a fact. It seems to me that you don’t know the players or situation very well. And yes, some American “B-Teams” will and have blown out opponents by 30 pts or more, but what does that have to do with anything we are talking about here ? 

[ChiBitCTy]

Luka made history.
Luka Doncic scores 48 points in Olympic debut, Slovenia crushes Argentina

He has oozing confidence, he is a superstar in the NBA, still a superstar in the Olympics. How good this guy is?

Anyone here thinks that Slovenia has a chance to win the gold medal?

Anyone can say whatever they want about their GOAT candidate, but if this kid keeps this up and doesn't get like a horrible injury or anything like that, plays this way for another 10-12 years then I am pretty sure he will be at the top of most GOAT lists. You may think he hasn't shown anything and he doesn't even have a proper playoff success yet, just some wins, but dude is 22 years old with basically no one around him and he still plays quite well, remember Lebron didn't even make it to playoffs on his first year, that is the difference we are talking about here.

I feel like he is going to slowly take all of his team into finals gradually, sort of like how Giannis did it, we may end up seeing some Giannis vs Luka finals if both teams do end up putting decent players around them, Bucks obviously did but Dallas doesn't have much to offer for any trade so it is a bit harder.

Lol this is highly doubtful. Now don’t get me wrong, Luka is a phenomenal player and his upside is immense but it is clear that he simply doesn’t have the build or athleticism to become the greatest player of all time. He’s not even the best player in the NBA right now. He is no michael jordan or Lebron James. Great player but the next goat, no chance. I do think it is possible that he becomes the best player in the NBA at some point, I just can't see him every becoming the greatest of all time.