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Chris Pike’s Opals Olympic Preview: Bronze Medal Game

Posted on | Posted by TABtouch

Bronze Medal Game v Belgium (5.30pm WST Sunday 11th August)

The Australian Opals will look to shake off the disappointment of losing to team USA to now take on Belgium to conclude Paris 2024 attempting to win a first women’s basketball medal since 2012.

It has been a rollercoaster of an Olympic Games tournament for the Opals that started with a horror loss to Nigeria, but they made the right adjustments and delivered strong wins against Canada and France to get to the knockout phase.

That win against France holds up especially well now given the Opals handed the French team their lone loss still in Paris 2024. That seven-point win over the host nation came up against the team now also playing the USA in the gold medal match on Sunday night.

The Opals then dominated Serbia in a brilliant all-round performance in the quarter finals to win by 18 points, but they were never in the contest against the USA in the semi finals.

The USA, quite simply, were too big, too athletic and too good for the Opals with Australia losing by 21 points to now be into Sunday’s bronze medal match up against Belgium.

Australia’s women won bronze medals at the Olympics in 1996 and 2012, and silver medals in 2000, 2004 and 2008, but the going has been tougher more recently at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021.

Now the Opals are a chance to win a sixth medal in Olympics basketball and they deserve to go in favourites against a Belgium team who lost their own semi-final to France in a tight affair by six points.

Rightfully so considering the team Australia will have out on the court, they come into the bronze medal match favourites too at $1.64* and that does look a good option to get on board with.

Belgium did lose their first two games in Paris 2024 to Germany and the USA, but they had a huge 27-point win over Japan that saw them still advance from the group phase.

They then went on to beat Spain in the quarter finals before losing to France in the semi-final match up.

It will be fascinating how coach Sandy Brondello approaches the match for Australia because they have looked at their best in Paris with Sami Whitcomb at the point, with Steph Talbot and Alanna Smith heavily involved, and with Cayla George and even Marianna Tolo in limited minutes up front.

Jade Melbourne has had an up and down campaign, but that’s not unexpected for a 21-year-old, and the same can be said for Ezi Magbegor. It has felt the more experience the Opals have had on the court, the better they have looked.

On the back of that, in the bronze medal match jump on Alanna Smith to score over 11.5 points at $1.85*, Cayla George to score over 8.5 points at $2.00* and Sami Whitcomb for over 13.5 points at $1.80* to go with over 5.5 assists at $2.20*.

Despite Belgium having won just two of five games at Paris 2024 to reach the bronze medal match, Australia still can’t take a team lightly that features the likes of Emma Meesseman, Julie Vanloo and Antonia Delaere.

Meesseman has averaged 23.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists throughout the tournament so jump on her at over 22.5 points at $1.85*, over 5.5 assists at $2.05* and over 8.5 rebounds at $1.85*.

You can also expect France as the host nation to take up the challenge to the USA in the gold medal match. A win might be out of reach for the French, but they are unlikely to get blown out so you could look at them at the line of +15.5 at $1.88*.

Verdict: Australia to win at $1.64*

*Odds correct as at 10am 11th August 2024.

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