The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will draw to a close for the Australian Boomers on Sunday night when they take on Georgia in their final game of Group K. As always, we preview the upcoming matchup and provide our best bet below.
Although the Boomers are out of contention, we’ll still be providing previews and best bets for the key matchups in the tournament going forward, so make sure to head over to our Basketball Tips page regularly to stay up to date!
FIBA Basketball World Cup Betting Tips
Australia vs Georgia
Sunday 5:30pm AEST, September 3rd, Okinawa Arena (Japan)
A thoroughly disappointing World Cup campaign will come to an end for Australia on Sunday night when they play their second and final Group K game. The Aussies had it all to play for against Slovenia on Friday night but were simply outplayed and outcoached. They lost by 11 points in the end, although it could’ve been a lot more had Luka Doncic not been in foul trouble throughout the contest.
Where to now for the Boomers? They’re clearly in a transitioning phase and can no longer rely on the likes of Patty Mills and Joe Ingles to carry the load on offence. Mills was solid again against Slovenia, but Ingles was awful. Josh Giddey is the future and has shown he’s capable of being ‘the guy’, but still has to improve on his outside shooting and overall consistency.
Also finishing their campaign on Sunday night are Georgia. The European nation have probably slightly exceeded pre-tournament expectations and can hang their hat on a couple of strong performances, particularly in the first group stage. Last time out the Georgians were no match for Germany which was to be expected, and that was effectively the final nail in their coffin.
Georgia have a couple of solid NBA role players on their roster in the form of Goga Bitadze and Sandro Mamukelashvili, both who are still only 24 years old and are in the early stages of their careers. If they can continue to develop and bring a couple of others along with them, the national team will threaten to post their best finish at the next World Cup.
Match prediction: The Boomers are currently 13-point favourites to get the better of Georgia on Sunday night, but haven’t done enough to justify the overwhelming favouritism in my opinion. Yes, they have superior top-end talent and depth, but they’ve looked disjointed all tournament and have been unable to consistently execute on either end of the floor.
The Boomers should be winning this contest, but at the end of the day it’s a dead rubber and anything could happen. If you’re determined to have a bet, then taking Georgia to cover the big handicap looks to be the best option.
Georgia +13.5
$1.86 (1 Unit)
