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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid, Olympic Games getting ready to wrap up.
00:07We're seeing some of the stars shine, that includes Noah Lyles.
00:10We're going to have another chance to see him and also talk some USA basketball.
00:14Jacob Kamaker is back with us here on Newswire from Sporting News.
00:17They've been covering the Olympic Games along with us.
00:19Jacob, thanks again for coming on the show.
00:21No problem, Craig. Glad to be here.
00:23All right. So let's dive into it.
00:25Noah Lyles is like Katie Ledecky.
00:28There's a handful of Simone Biles.
00:30There's a handful of stars that we've seen come out of this
00:33that I think are going to be really taking this to the next level
00:36as far as getting paid for their work after the Olympics.
00:39The next round for Lyles is to win the gold in the men's 200-meter race.
00:45And if he doesn't win, it would probably be the biggest shock of the Olympics
00:49because it's very rare to see a favorite like this.
00:52And Lyles has just been so good, Jacob. He's minus 390 here.
00:55So I guess I'm not going to ask you if he's going to win or not,
00:58and I'm not going to ask you about this dude from Botswana who is going to win
01:02because you and I both know that this is you and me Googling
01:05to see who's going to win this thing outside of Noah.
01:08But what has he meant so far to Team USA?
01:10I think that's probably a better question to ask you.
01:13He's been huge for Team USA.
01:15I mean, the United States hadn't won the 100-meter dash
01:19in quite some time before he was able to do it,
01:21and he did it in epic fashion, really.
01:24It was him and the Jamaican runner he was going against
01:27really right down to the wire,
01:29and he won by five thousandths of a second over Kashane Thompson.
01:33And it was just really a moment that a lot of Americans could celebrate.
01:37Team USA fans finally got to see Noah Lyles live up to the hype
01:41that he's kind of created for himself as well
01:44because he pretty much said that he was going to remember Thompson
01:48and some other runners beating him at times.
01:50I think Oblique, another Jamaican runner,
01:53had a chance to beat him in the earlier rounds,
01:56and he's just performed very well throughout.
01:59And now the 200-meter event, he's called his baby,
02:02and as you mentioned, he's heavily favored to win this thing.
02:05If he can do that, he's going to be the first American man
02:08to pull off the so-called double to win the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes
02:13since Carl Lewis in 1984.
02:16So that's 40 years of history that we could be watching
02:19in the making right here.
02:20So it's going to be exciting to watch him either way,
02:23even with him very much favored to win this event.
02:26Yeah, what are the names that's going to come out of this
02:28as one of the winners of the USA Olympic Games
02:31from a popularity standpoint and also capturing a lot of gold medals too?
02:34Okay, so Team USA takes on Serbia.
02:37I thought, Jacob, from watching their last game,
02:40it was their best performance of the Olympics.
02:42You and I both know that this is, for us here on SportsGrid,
02:47somewhat more about the point spread than it is about wins and losses.
02:50And let's just be honest, Team USA was not covering any games
02:53in the warm-ups, the group stage.
02:56Now we're at the point where covering is going to be important
03:01because, again, they want to win and they want to dominate.
03:04They take on a very good Serbia team, 16.5-point favorites,
03:08led by one player and one player only.
03:10You see him there. We all know him.
03:12Former MVP of the NBA, Nikola Jokic.
03:15All right, Jacob, you're on the line here.
03:17Do they win? Do they cover?
03:19What's the final score? I need an exact...
03:21No, I'm just kidding. I'm not going to need an exact score.
03:23But what do you think happens today?
03:25I do think the United States are going to win.
03:28We've seen them play Serbia twice now recently,
03:31and they've dominated both times.
03:33Maybe not in the first half. It's been close at times.
03:36Nikola Jokic keeps Serbia kind of in it, kind of within striking distance.
03:40But Team USA was able to pull away in both of their previous meetings.
03:44They're getting better as this tournament goes along.
03:46They're developing more chemistry.
03:48They're finding the matchups that they really need
03:50to take advantage in this spot.
03:52And I know the first time they played Serbia,
03:54Joel Embiid didn't have his greatest game,
03:56and Nikola Jokic was kind of able to beat him on this world stage
04:00because Embiid just, I don't think, is as familiar
04:04with the international version of basketball as the NBA style.
04:08So Jokic had the advantage there.
04:11But I think if Steve Kerr is willing to use Anthony Davis
04:14and Bam Adebayo more in this game,
04:16I think the United States can cover this one too.
04:18Like I said earlier, it might be one where in the first half,
04:21you're like, oh, Serbia's hanging in this.
04:23It's kind of within striking distance. Jokic is looking good.
04:26But LeBron James has been dominating as the point-forward type,
04:30setting up his teammates.
04:32Devin Booker started really hitting triples last game against Brazil.
04:35I think if they can get some hot shooting out of him,
04:37and Steph Curry can't stay this cold.
04:39He's 5 of 20 on threes.
04:41He can't stay this cold forever, right?
04:43So I think if they have a good game from beyond the arc,
04:46I think they can take down Serbia and win by about 20 points in cover.
04:50All right, there you go.
04:5120 points is the margin of victory for Team USA, says Jacob Kamaker.
04:55We'll clip this, save it, and if it wins, we post it.
04:58If not, we just forget it. No, I'm just kidding.
05:00All right, Nikola Jokic.
05:01He is the favorite to be the top point scorer at plus 140.
05:04Bogdan Bogdanovic at plus 400.
05:07LeBron 7-1.
05:08Durant has played well.
05:09He's 7.5-1, and then everybody else is a long shot here.
05:12If you don't take Jokic to be the top point scorer, Jacob, today,
05:16who else would it be?
05:18I would strongly consider Kevin Durant at 750 plus 750 odds.
05:22I mean, that looks good to me.
05:24We know that Kevin Durant is the most prolific Team USA scorer in history.
05:28He just passed Lisa Leslie for that mark at the Olympics.
05:31So I think if you're looking for a guy who can just fill up the basket
05:35and when he's hot, he's hot.
05:37I think earlier in the tournament he had a half where he scored 25
05:40or 27 points on 10 of 10 shooting with some free throws mixed in.
05:44So I think if you're not taking Jokic there, go with Durant and just say,
05:48hey, if he's hot out of the gate, Team USA will ride him.
05:52I think any issue with taking an American player is if this turns
05:55into a blowout, all the scores are going to be well-rounded,
05:58and you know they're not going to take Nikola Jokic out for Serbia
06:01in a blowout because there's a certain amount of pride on the line.
06:04But KD at those odds, that intrigues me at least enough to consider that.
06:09All right.
06:10And finally, we've got the big soccer match for the women's team, Team USA,
06:14their favorites against Brazil.
06:16Minus 105 today, Jacob on the money line.
06:19A tie is plus 230.
06:22Does Team USA beat Brazil today to move on, or does Brazil pull off the upset?
06:29I think this game might be a little tougher for the United States
06:32than people think because Brazil is going to be motivated in this one.
06:36This gold medal match, it's going to be Marta's last game,
06:39and she's been a really historic player for Brazil,
06:42their best women's player of all time.
06:44Yeah, over 200 appearances.
06:46So they're going to have a lot on the line looking to beat
06:49the U.S. women's national team.
06:51But I think the U.S. team's defense with Naomi Germa
06:55and with Alyssa Nair and Nett, they might be able to slow down Brazil enough.
06:59It's all about whether they can score, though.
07:01If the United States can score, they should win this one.
07:04Great stuff, Jacob.
07:05As always, thanks for coming on a couple times this week.
07:07We'll catch up again soon.
07:09Sounds good. Thanks, Craig.
07:10♪♪