Puerto Rico vs USA Prediction, Picks, Odds, News, Injury Report 8/3/24

Wins over South Sudan and Serbia have confirmed the USA’s place in the knockout rounds in the men’s Olympic basketball. The final round of group-stage games are coming up this weekend, so it’s a good time to deliver a Puerto Rico vs USA prediction.

Puerto Rico are 33.5-point underdogs at bet365 after losing their first two games in the competition.

With Olympic basketball getting underway, our Expert Insights are stacked with basketball betting tips. Expert Sam Cox will have his best bets throughout the regular season.

Puerto Rico vs USA Prediction and Picks:

• Jose Alvarado over 2.5 turnovers
• USA moneyline

Bet Builder Odds: 1.91

bet365 odds updated on August 2nd 2024. 

Jose Alvarado had two turnovers in 17 minutes against Serbia. Facing the hostile perimeter defence of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and others, Alvarado is a candidate to turn the ball over several times on Saturday afternoon.

The New Orleans Pelicans guard was only mediocre by assist-to-turnover ratio last season. This USA team forced South Sudan into 19 turnovers, including five from their starting guards. Serbia did a better job of looking after the ball – three turnovers from their starting guards – but Devin Booker, Holiday, and White still registered two steals apiece.

The moneyline doesn’t change these odds massively, but it gets us up to a respectable 1.91. We aren’t sure how locked in the US will be, so the 33.5-point spread is hard to judge. An alternate spread would be worth considering. USA -9.5 in the first quarter has some appeal, too, with Puerto Rico trailing by 12 after the opening period against Serbia.

USA vs Puerto Rico Game Info

• Stadium: Pierre Mauroy Stadium
• Location: Lille, France
• Start time: 16:15 UK time

Puerto Rico News, Injury Report, Schedule: Overmatched at Olympics

It would be one of the biggest shocks in Olympic basketball history for Puerto Rico to get the better of the USA on Saturday. They need a win to avoid elimination after losing to South Sudan and Serbia by double digits.

Completely overmatched against Serbia, Puerto Rico are bound to suffer a similar fate against the USA. They are desperately short on top-tier talent, and have overachieved to even make it to the Olympics, having not qualified for the event since 2004.

USA News, Injury Report, Schedule: Destined For Gold

Like most USA coaches, Steve Kerr has faced pretty relentless criticism. They have won both of their games emphatically, however, and Kerr’s rotation tweaks have worked perfectly. It will be interesting to see if he perseveres with Jayson Tatum and Anthony Davis in the starting lineup against Puerto Rico.

This is the strongest USA Olympic team for a generation. It will take an outlier shooting performance from an opponent for them to miss out on the gold medal. Even if Kerr rests Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James here, there is sufficient depth on this star-studded roster to roll through Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico vs USA H2H: Utter USA Dominance

The USA have won their last 10 games against Puerto Rico. The most recent of which was a 43-point blowout in a friendly last year. The head-to-head record is not necessarily that indicative, given how often the USA have put out severely weakened teams for FIBA World Cup qualifiers and AmeriCup games.

Blowouts have been common when the USA have been anywhere close to full strength for this matchup.

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