Australia vs Italy Olympic Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 7/28/21

Italy and Australia meet Wednesday morning in the 2020 Olympics in a basketball meeting at the Saitama Super Arena. Italy won its opener with a 10-point victory over Germany. Australia won its opener with a 17-point win over Nigeria.

Italy came back after being down 10 points in the first quarter and cruised in the second half. In the winning effort, Italy shot 50 percent from the field and 48.4 percent from three. Simone Fontecchio led Italy with 20 points and two assists while Danilo Gallinari had 18 points and two rebounds. Stefano Tonut was the third double-digit scorer and Nicolo Melli grabbed nine rebounds. Defensively, Italy allowed 46.9 percent shooting from the field and 46.9 percent shooting from three. Italy has now won four straight games going back to qualifying and it’s going to be a tough out if that offensive production continues. Italy had five double-digit scorers in the victory and that’s scary if those sort of numbers continue. 

Australia wasn’t outscored in any of the four quarters and pulled away in the second half to close the deal. In the winning effort, Australia shot 39.4 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from three. Patty Mills led Australia with 25 points and six assists while Nicholas Kay had 12 points and eight rebounds. Dante Exum was the third double-digit scorer and Joe Ingles grabbed four rebounds. Defensively, Australia allowed 39.3 percent shooting from the field and 29.2 percent shooting from three. Australia comfortably won its opener and didn’t even shoot all that well from the field. The Aussies have to be thrilled knowing that they can win games on the defensive side. Australia has won six straight games overall.

There’s no match history between these two teams.

This should be a fun game between two teams that have the potential to advance out of this group. Australia is the more talented team and could pull away if the offense shows up. However, Italy isn’t a pushover and showed in its opener what the offense is capable of. There’s a lot of Italians who can fill it up offensively.

Give me Italy and the points.