Japan vs. Belgium Olympic Women’s Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 8/4/21

Japan and Belgium face off early Wednesday morning in a women’s basketball Olympic quarterfinal. The winner of this game moves onto the semi-finals, with the loser being eliminated. 

Japan has looked pretty good so far during the Olympics with their only loss coming against the United States. Japan’s two wins came against Nigeria and France. In the game against Nigeria, Japan’s offense was elite, scoring 102 points, and that was enough for Japan to get the job done. In the last game against France, it was a close game that Japan won by only four points. Japan hasn’t really had a star player during the Olympics, but they have used a balanced attack to find their success. Saki Hayashi has come off the bench during the Olympics, but in the last game was the top scorer finishing with 12 points while making three 3-pointers. Japan is a team that leans on the shot from deep, and they are going to need to find that success in this game. 

On the other side of this matchup is Belgium who lost their first game of the Olympics against China before winning their next two games. In the last game against Australia it was the offense that was the difference putting up 85 points and that led to the victory. Emma Meesseman is the star for Belgium, and she has carried the team to this point. In the last game against Australia, Meesseman finished with 32 points and nine rebounds. In this game for Belgium, it’s going to be about defending the three-point line, and making life tough on Japan from deep. If Belgium can take away the three-point line, they will be in good shape to get the job done. 

Japan is going to make their shots from deep and that will be the difference in this game as they find success. Belgium isn’t going to be able to keep up, and Japan will come away with the cover of the spread.