Olympic Basketball: Best Bets for Tuesday 8/6/24

Men's basketball at the Paris Olympics has reached the knockout round.

The top two teams from each group (along with the two best third-place teams) have advanced to the quarterfinals. All eight teams are in action on Tuesday.

The full bracket can be found here.

Olympic Basketball Best Bets

Greece vs. Germany

Germany -7.5 (-110)

Germany made short work of Group B in the group phase, going 3-0 and finishing with the second-best average point differential (+15.7) behind only the United States.

Their reward? A quarterfinals date with two-time NBA MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Giannis' Greece squeaked into the knockout round, rebounding from an 0-2 start to take down Australia and earn a bracket bid.

They were competitive in their first two group phase games, dropping tight games to Canada (86-79) and Spain (84-77).

That was largely thanks to their star player as Giannis led all Olympians with 27.0 points per game. He shot a blistering 69% in group stage and finished +5.0 from the floor despite Greece's own -8.0 total differential.

Still, Germany may be Giannis' toughest test to date. The Germans have been a buzzsaw on defense, allowing the fewest points per game (73.7) in the group phase.

That includes their 14-point win over France -- one in which the French scored just 71 points. Germany did an especially good job on Victor Wembanyama, holding him to 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting.

Granted, Giannis is a different animal, but he also doesn't have as strong of a supporting cast as France. He'll put up a fight, but I like this NBA-heavy Germany team to cover -7.5 against Greece. That's a margin they covered in all three group stage games.

United States vs. Brazil

LeBron James Over 6.5 Assists (+102)

United States wing LeBron James operated as the team's chief facilitator in the group stage. His 7.3 assists per game led the USA and ranked fourth among all Olympic players.

LeBron's passing was on full display across the United States' first three games, and he proved capable of racking up hefty assist totals no matter the scoreboard.

Considering LeBron's high assist marks even when playing limited minutes, I like him to go over 6.5 assists in the United States' quarterfinals date with Brazil.

Brazil went just 1-2 in the group stage, losing by double-digits to France and Germany before beating Japan by 18 to secure their quarterfinals bid.

Still, Brazil is a 26.5-point underdog against the USA in a game that has a day-high 185.5 over/under.

The United States has scored over 100 points in all three games thus far, and they're expected to do so again on Tuesday. That could mean plenty of assist chances for James and has me bullish on his chances of going over 6.5 dimes.

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.