France vs. Slovenia Men's Basketball 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Odds and expert picks vs. spread, total for semifinal matchup

After a grueling and intriguing tournament to this point, only four teams remain in the running for the men's basketball gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. France and Slovenia face off in the second of two semifinal matchups on Thursday. The winner will take on the winner of USA-Australia. Both teams are led by top-shelf NBA talent, with Luka Doncic serving as Slovenia's headliner and Rudy Gobert on the French side. 

Tip-off is set for Thursday at 7 a.m. ET. Caesars Sportsbook has Slovenia listed as a 2.5-point favorite. Slovenia is also listed at -140 on the money line (risk $140 to win $100), while the Over-Under is set at 174.5. 

Before making any 2020 Olympics bets, be sure to see what SportsLine's Olympics expert, Mike Tierney, has to say.

A national sportswriter whose work appears in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Tierney has covered nine Olympic Games in person. For Rio in 2016, Tierney profited big-time. He told readers to bet Over on Team USA's gold medal count (41.5) and Over on Team USA's overall medal count (102.5). The result? 46 golds, 121 medals and two easy cashes.

And for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Tierney hit two of his three predictions: Germany (+200) to win the most gold medals and the United States winning Under 10.5 gold medals (+110).

Now, with the Tokyo Summer Olympics underway, Tierney has analyzed every angle of Thursday's France-Slovenia men's basketball matchup to help bettors find the best betting options. Tierney is leaning on the under for the point total.

He's also identified an x-factor that has him jumping all over one side of the spread. You ABSOLUTELY need to see what he has to say before locking in your picks. 

Who wins Thursday's France vs. Slovenia matchup? And what X-factor makes one side of the spread a MUST-BACK? Join SportsLine right now to find out which team in the France vs. Slovenia game you should back against the spread, all from the expert who has crushed his Olympic picks!

Tierney's pick: 

France +2.5

If there is an MVP Award for this tournament, it can be presented prior to the semifinals to Luka Doncic. He has carried Slovenia, never an Olympics medal winner, to this stage even while increasingly facing double teams with each passing game. The betting public has warmed to Doncic, a popular NBA star with the Mavericks, and his squad, but this matchup has the wrong favorite. France has sailed through four opponents, winning by an average of 13.3, with a deeper roster laden with NBA players. Though Evan Fournier of the Knicks is the leading scorer, the key Frenchman here is Utah's Rudy Gobert, the ultimate rim protector. A peerless defender, he will deter Doncic from dribble drives to the rim. More double-teaming means double trouble for the Doncics.