Olympic Basketball Odds: USA Betting Favorite over Serbia in Gold Medal Game

The United States men’s basketball team will be playing for gold yet again Sunday in Rio de Janeiro when it takes on an upset-minded Serbia squad as 15-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

The Americans will be going for their third straight gold medal in the Summer Olympic tournament after winning in 2008 and 2012, although they have been far from impressive during this run to the title game.

On Friday, Team USA failed to cover the spread for the fifth time in seven games. The U.S. knocked out Spain for the second straight Olympics in an 82-76 victory behind 22 points from Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors.

The Americans closed as 12.5-point chalk on the Rio Olympics odds against the Spaniards in the semifinals and scored their fewest points since the 2004 semis, when they lost to Argentina en route to winning the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, the Serbians were five-point underdogs versus Australia and cruised to a surprisingly easy 87-61 win in the other semifinal matchup, using outstanding defense to advance.

They held a 35-14 lead over the Aussies at halftime, limiting them to 22-of-66 shooting from the field (33.3 percent), including 4-of-31 from beyond the three-point arc (12.9 percent). Milos Teodosic led the way with a game-high 22 points.

Serbia may have played the United States tougher than any other country in the tournament, falling 94-91 in Group A play on August 12. The Americans took a 27-15 lead after the first quarter in the first meeting, but they were outscored in two of the last three before holding on for the victory.

The Serbians did not even qualify for the Olympics in 2008 and 2012, and they finished 2-3 in the group stage compared to 5-0 for Team USA.

The United States will need to keep its cool in the gold medal game as well, as Draymond Green of the Warriors and DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers picked up technical fouls that helped Serbia get back into the game.

Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers scored a team-high 15 points while Paul George of the Indiana Pacers added 12 against the Serbians, who saw Nikola Jokic have his best game of the tourney with 25 points.