Olympic Basketball: Best Bets for the Men's Gold and Bronze Medal Matches

Men's basketball at the Paris Olympics concludes with two medal games on Saturday.

The gold medal match is a rematch from the Tokyo 2020 games as host France takes on the United States. The U.S. defeated France 87-82 in Tokyo and are double-digit favorites on Saturday.

The earlier bronze medal match pits Serbia against Germany.

Let's check out a few best bets for Saturday's games.

Olympic Basketball Best Bets

Serbia vs. Germany Bronze Medal Match

Germany -1.5 (-108)

Serbia and Germany are both coming off four-point loses in the semifinals.

Germany got off to a hot start against France but couldn't overcome an eight-point second quarter before eventually losing 73-69. Leading scorer Franz Wagner (18.6 points per game) struggled to get anything going against the French interior, scoring just 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

Serbia, meanwhile, led by as many as 17 against the United States but let up 32 fourth quarter points and lost 95-91. They stuck 15 threes despite the losing effort, with five different players making multiple triples.

Still, for as well as Serbia played against the United States, I don't love how they match up with Germany.

Nikola Jokic is the centerpiece of Serbia's offense, but he struggled to generate his own offense against the United States (17 points on 7-of-17 shooting). Germany has several options to throw at him, including a pair of NBA bigs in Daniel Theis and Mo Wagner.

Bogdan Bogdanovic has been a strong secondary scorer for Serbia, but he's shot under 50% in both knockout stage games. He's among a slew of high-volume three-point shooters for Serbia, though Germany's done a great job defending the arc of late. They held Greece to 6-of-22 (27%) in the quarterfinals and France to 6-of-27 (22%) in the semis.

Serbia isn't the most efficient outside shooting team, either. They're shooting only 34% at the Olympics.

Offensively, Franz and Dennis Schroder should have a much easier go against Serbia than they did against France. Serbia has surrendered 89.2 points per game thus far while both of Germany's leading scorers can push for upwards over 30 points on their own.

This is a spot I'm looking to fade a Serbian side that squandered a chance to compete for gold, instead backing a Germany team that looked like the United States' biggest competitor prior to the semifinals. I like them to cover as 1.5-point favorites.

United States vs. France Gold Medal Match

United States -16 (-110)

The United States narrowly escaped the semifinals against Serbia, rallying back from a 17-point deficit to advance to the gold medal match. Still, they did so by outscoring Serbia 32-15 in the final period, and that newfound intensity has me bullish on their chances of covering as 16-point favorites against France.

France's size proved to be a huge problem for Germany in the semifinals as the French held them to just 44 points after the first quarter. But France didn't fair much better themselves on offense, managing just 73 points while shooting 44% from the floor and 22% from three.

That just isn't going to get it done against an offense as talented as the Americans'. Victor Wembanyama is a force on defense, but it's not like the NBA players on Team USA haven't seen him before. US center Joel Embiid faced Wemby once in the NBA last season, and he scored 70 (!) points to go along with 18 rebounds.

The US has plenty of size to throw at France's two bigs -- though Rudy Gobert may not even sniff the floor against the Americans. That size could be a huge issue for France's offense, and they don't have much of an outside game to fall back on. They've only shot 33% on less than 30 three-point attempts per game at the Paris Olympics.

The French just don't have the perimeter talent to hang with the United States' offense, so I'm not expecting the final to be nearly as competitive as the semis were. I like the United States to cover as 16-point favorites with relative ease.

Anthony Edwards Over 9.5 Points (-130)

Anthony Edwards managed only two points across 13 minutes in the semifinal win over Serbia. With the team trailing for the majority of the game, the Americans shortened their rotation and funneled shots to the red-hot Steph Curry.

But I'm expecting the US to have a much easier go against France, and that should allow Anthony Edwards to crack double-digit points.

Ant went for 17 in 21 minutes during their quarterfinal win over Brazil, and he cracked double figures in all three of their group stage games. In total, Edwards has averaged 13.8 points at the Paris Olympics.

Simply, this line is too short for someone who'd been a consistent double-digit scorer prior to the semifinals. I'm buying the dip after Edwards' quiet game against Serbia and like him to go over 9.5 points in the gold medal match.

The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.