FIBA World Cup 2023: Saturday Odds, Schedule, Live Stream and Predictions
Saturday marks the final day of competition at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup for 16 nations.
France, Finland, Japan and the Philippines were among the teams who fell down to the classification round after the group stage.
France will just try to finish the tournament on a strong note after it surprisingly did not advance to the second round. Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum and Co. own two straight wins and a third victory in a row will at least allow them to leave the tournament with an ounce of positivity.
A handful of Asian nations still have something to play for Saturday. The World Cup finishing order determines which Asian side qualifies for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Japan resides in the best position to qualify for the Olympics, but China is still in contention and needs a win over the Philippines to have a chance at Paris.
Saturday Schedule and Odds
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Finland (-13.5) vs. Venezuela (3:30 a.m. ET)
Angola vs. South Sudan (-9.5) (4 a.m. ET)
New Zealand (-4.5) vs. Egypt (4:45 a.m. ET)
Ivory Coast vs. France (-20.5) (5:45 a.m. ET)
Japan (-9.5) vs. Cape Verde (7:10 a.m. ET)
Philippines (-2.5) vs. China (8 a.m. ET)
Jordan vs. Mexico (-4.5) (8:30 a.m. ET)
Iran vs. Lebanon (-4.5) (9:30 a.m. ET)
All games can be live-streamed on ESPN+.
Predictions against the spread in bold.
Ivory Coast vs. France
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France has been in cruise control mode since its elimination was confirmed on the second day of group play.
The European side beat Lebanon by six points to finish off group play and then pulled away late for an 82-55 victory over Iran to start the classification round.
France has zero motivation to play hard against Ivory Coast on Saturday. It already qualified for the Olympics as the host, and frankly, it does not belong in this stage of the World Cup.
France just wants to play an injury-free game of basketball before hitting the reset button ahead of the Olympics.
Sure, France can take some positivity away from Jakarta with three wins in a row, but the overall performance at the World Cup will go down as a disappointment.
France should win by 20 points on talent alone, but whether it does that and covers the 20.5-point spread is solely based on how motivated it is.
Philippines vs. China
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The Philippines and China came into the World Cup with hopes of securing the one Olympic qualification spot that goes to the highest-placing Asian team.
Only China is still alive in the hunt for the Olympic berth going into Saturday.
China needs to beat the Philippines, Japan to lose to Cape Verde and for the 44-point gap in point differential between it and Japan to be flipped in its favor.
It appears to be an impossible task, but China at least needs to try and reverse its deficit.
Japan tips off one hour before China does on Saturday, so there will be an idea of how realistic Olympic qualification is.
At least China can say it has some motivation to win on Saturday, while the Philippines are out of the running to clinch an Olympic berth from the World Cup.
Two NBA players, Kyle Anderson (aka Li Kaier) and Jordan Clarkson, will be on the court for their respective sides. They should be the leading scorers on each roster regardless of which team wins.
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