USA vs Iran: an easy win for the NBA superstars

The USA team is hungry for revenge after losing against France, and the Iranian team is in their crosshairs. Will the NBA stars be able to overcome their defeat and show what they can really do?

The USA basketball team is especially worrisome in this Olympics. Back in their friendlies games they looked shaky and lost against Australia and Nigeria. The Dream Team lineup was far from optimal, with Dakota Mathias, Joshua Madgett, Cam Reynolds, Darius Garland, Saddiq Bey, and Keldon. Johnson ended up flying to Tokyo in place of Bradley Beal, while JaVale McGee replaced Kevin Love. The NBA finalists Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, and Devin Booker also joined the team, and so far, Holiday is getting the most playing time. The latest news from the locker room is troubling: team leaders are unhappy with Gregg Popovich and believe the head coach is trying to instill outdated game schemes. It will be interesting to follow the development of their participation in the tournament.

Kevin Durant, Zach Lavine, Bam Adebayo, Draymond Green, and Damian Lillard came out in the starting five against the French, but this did not save the US team from defeat with a score of 76-83. After the first quarter, Gregg Popovich's charges were leading with a difference of 7 points, but very soon they lost their handicap. The Americans missed a lot of open shots, while their opponent scored in almost every shot. Jrue Holiday tried to take on the role of the leader of the team, but in the end, it did no effect on the outcome of the game. In the second half, the NBA champion of  Milwaukee made a few important shots, while the others failed in their attack. The Americans had good chances to save the game - Lillard slipped and caught a technical foul in key possession. Holiday was the most productive in the team: he scored 18 points.

The Iranian national team arrived in Tokyo as one of the outsiders of the tournament. In the last three world championships, they did not rise above the nineteenth place in the standings, and it will be extremely difficult to count on getting out of the group at the Olympic Games. The main stars of the team are not getting younger: Hamed Haddadi is already 36 years old, and his experience of playing in the NBA is especially valuable for the national squad. Some representatives of European clubs, Mike Rostampour and Philip Jalalpoor, play secondary roles and do not spend much time on the court. A lot will depend on the Behnam Yakhchali Dehkordi. As for the rest, the team is staffed with representatives of the native championship: 6 out of 12 basketball players play in Iran.

The defeat against the Czech Republic in the last match was the fourth in a row for the Iranians: before that, they lost twice to Spain and once to Japan. Despite ending with a score of 78-84, it cannot be said that the Iranian national team fought on equal terms with the Czechs. The gap exceeded 20 points in the course of the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and only, in the end, did Mehran Shahintab's wards close the gap, scoring 12 out of 13 two-pointers in the 4th ten minutes. Behnam Yakhchali Dehkordi became the most productive in the team, scoring 23 points.

Despite having lost to France, the USA is still able to beat any team. This time, the Americans will face a much weaker defense than the French, and the recent defeat provoked the team for sure. The Iranians almost miraculously escaped defeat against the Czech national team, but now Bam Adebayo, Draymond Green, and Kevin Durant will not let them roam around. The USA team is able to start hitting open shots. Even in a friendly match with Argentina, the Americans scored more than 100 points, and now they have to repeat such a performance. I propose to bet on the following outcomes:

• USA to win with a handicap of (-39.5) with odds of about 1.90;
• Total over 167 for 1.91;
• USA individual score over 103.5 for 1.85.