USA vs. Japan Women's Basketball 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Odds and expert picks vs. spread, total for gold medal matchup

A gold medal will be handed out in women's basketball on Saturday evening. The 2020 Summer Olympics continue in Tokyo, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Team USA aims to continue its decades-long dominance in this event. They'll face a talented team from Japan aiming to win the gold. 

Tip-off is set for Saturday at 10:30 p.m. ET. Caesars Sportsbook has Team USA listed as an 18-point favorite. Team USA is also listed at -2400 on the money line (risk $2,400 to win $100), while the Over-Under is set at 161. 

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 Saturday's USA-Japan women'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 Saturday's USA vs. Japan 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 USA vs. Japan game you should back against the spread, all from the expert who has crushed his Olympic picks!

Tierney's pick: 

Team USA -18

You can take Team USA's sixth gold medal to the bank. The only question is margin if victory. Japan has ridden its motion offense and three-point shooting to the finals with a Colorado-born coach at the helm. Against the Americans in their second tournament game, however, the Japanese were a mere 10-for-38 on threes. The U.S. won 86-69 during a stretch of unimpressive group play. The knockout round has been another story, and it stands to have a happy ending for the betting public that backs the Americans. Japan's tallest player is 6-foot-1, which would make her the seventh tallest on the opponents' roster. The U.S. scored at will in the paint in the first meeting. Defensively, the favorites should adjust to prevent being beaten as much off the dribble. The incomparable Diana Taurasi (hip) has paced herself with limited minutes and can go full bore in her likely Olympics farewell.