USA vs. Germany FIBA World Cup picks: Bet on Haliburton and the over
USA and Germany meet Friday with a trip to the FIBA World Cup final on the line.
The pregame narrative: The Americans are hefty 10.5-point favourites against Germany, who is the tournament's last undefeated team. We're staying away from that double-digit handicap and are turning our eyes to the over and a Tyrese Haliburton prop instead.
Basketball oddsas of 2:33 p.m. ET 09/07/2023.
USA vs. Germany World Cup picks
Best Bet: Over 179.5 points (-112)
This total seems low for two teams loaded with star power.
The Americans have by far the deepest team in the tournament and they haven't had an issue filling the bucket at any point. USA has scored 99-plus points in all but one of its FIBA World Cup games, with the anomaly being an 85-73 win over Montenegro on September 1.
Steve Kerr's squad can score at will, but defending has been a bit of an issue. The Americans allowed 110 points to Lithuania in a second-round loss, gave up 81 to Greece in the group stage and allowed 91 to Germany in a pre-tournament friendly.
The Germans have shown off their firepower, too, by scoring 100-plus points in three of their past four games. The Wagner brothers are a solid one-two punch and Dennis Schroder has been pretty solid this tournament outside of a disasterous performance in Germany's semifinal match on Wednesday.
All in all, this should be a close game and the scoreboard operator should keep busy.
Key stat: USA is averaging the most points per game (101.2) this tournament while Germany is averaging the fifth-most (91.3).
Quick pick
Haliburton over 15.5 points + assists (-118): Haliburton had himself a game against Italy in the quarterfinal, totalling 18 points and five assists in a 100-63 rout. That was only his second time in six World Cup games where he topped this mark, though.
That said, he had at least 10 points + assists in each of the other four games and also notched 16 points and three helpers against Germany in a pre-tournament friendly.
We're expecting Kerr to lean on Haliburton as he has all tournament long.
