Team USA handled every aspect of its semifinal game against Australia and is now heading to a heralded game on Sunday to play for their eighth consecutive Olympic gold. They’ll face the home team, France, who beat Belgium in overtime on Friday.
The U.S. is favored over France by 15.5 points with a -1400 moneyline. The Americans were favored by a 14.5-point spread in the semifinal vs. Australia, a point spread that ballooned to 23.5 at halftime. If you bet the Americans in the first and hedged in the second, my hat’s off to you: They won by 21.
The Americans have won all five of their Olympic games by an average of 18.6 points. In fact, they haven’t lost at the Olympics since 1992. If you’re 31 or younger, you’ve never seen the American women lose an Olympic game.
“It’s gold or bust,” Breanna Stewart said in an interview after the semifinal game in which she scored a game-high 16 points, plus six rebounds and five assists.
In a neat twist of fate, both the men’s and women’s basketball gold medal games are USA vs. France.
The women’s gold medal game is the final event of the Paris Olympics, scheduled for Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET, before the Closing Ceremony.
USA vs. France gold medal game odds
| TEAM | SPREAD | MONEYLINE | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
|
USA |
-15.5 |
-1400 |
O 156.5 |
|
France |
+15.5 |
+800 |
U 156.5 |
The U.S. beat Australia 85-64 in their 60th straight victory at the Olympics, with an audience studded with celebrities like Kevin Durant, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Bam Adebayo, Carmelo Anthony and Vanessa Bryant watching.
Australia is a team of many familiar WNBA faces, but the Opals weren’t up to the challenge against the Americans. The U.S. shot 50 percent from the field with 34-of-56 shooting vs. Australia’s 36.2 percent, and while they didn’t shoot many threes, they shot them well (7-of-17 vs. Australia’s 7-of-29). They were electric on defense with 46 rebounds, 10 steals and five blocks, and flawless transitions.
As you’d expect, Team USA has just gotten better the more they’ve played, getting into rhythm and gelling through different lineups. The starting five in the semifinal were seamless, particularly the Las Vegas Aces core of A’ja Wilson (10 points, eight rebounds, one assist), Jackie Young (14, two, five), Chelsea Gray (five, three, five). Kelsey Plum also contributed off the bench.
The French team will have a tall task to challenge the U.S. Their semifinal against Belgium was a much more competitive game than USA vs. Australia, with each team going ahead only for the other to fight back. The players to watch on Team France include some current and former WNBA stars, Gabby Williams, Valériane Ayayi, Marine Johannès and Iliana Rupert.
Ayayi, Williams and Rupert are scoring threats, all three going into double digits in the semifinal. Rupert, Marième Badiane and Janelle Salaün were aggressive on rebounds, and the French team has shown dominance in steals and forcing turnovers.
But now they’re facing the toughest team in the world. They struggled to beat the Belgians, a team that the U.S. put away with a decisive 87-74 win in the group phase. However, that was Team USA’s closest game at the Olympics thus far. If France can show the same level of tenacity they did in the semifinal, with the support of a home crowd, we could have a fun matchup to cap off the 2024 Paris Olympics.
(Photo of Breanna Stewart: Aris Messinis / AFP via Getty Images)
