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

The United States women's basketball team aims to continue an unbeaten run at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Friday. Team USA faces Serbia in the semifinals, with a berth in the gold medal game on the line. The Americans enter as significant favorites for the entire tournament, as well as this particular matchup.

Tip-off is set at 12:40 a.m. ET. Caesars Sportsbook has Team USA listed as a 17.5-point favorite. Team USA is also listed at -2400 on the money line (risk $2400 to win $100), while the Over-Under is set at 158.5. 

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 Friday's USA-Serbia women's basketball matchup to help bettors find the best betting options. He knows that Team USA is an unbeaten juggernaut, though Serbia has enjoyed recent international success and deploys a rugged style. Tierney is leaning on the over 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 Friday's USA vs. Serbia 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. Serbia game you should back against the spread, all from the expert who has crushed his Olympic picks!

Tierney's pick: 

Team USA -17

The sleepy starts appear over for Team USA. In group play, the Americans trailed after one quarter in all three games, a pattern that resulted in failure to cover in each. The quarterfinals generated quite a reversal as the U.S. led Australia by 14 points following the first period and coasted by 24. Serbia is no pushover, having earned a bronze in Rio and a gold at the EuroBasket Championships. But the Serbs were blistered by 26 by the U.S. at the 2016 Games and opened this tournament at odds of +3000, sixth highest. They went just 1-2 in pool play, with defeats to Canada and Spain, and pulled a mild upset over China in the quarters. If Team USA is geared up from the opening tip, a cover should ensue.