Shaking off a sluggish, sloppy start and maybe some Brazilian boredom, the Americans regrouped in the second quarter and romped over Venezuela 113-69 on Monday, taking another step toward a possible third straight gold medal.
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One day after the United States men’s basketball team opened its Olympic account with a 57-point thrashing of China, the women’s begin group play against Senegal. Lisa Leslie sits all alone on her throne, high above the rest of the field, with 488 career Olympic points.
“They could be starting on this team, there’s no question about it”, point guard Sue Bird of Olympic rookie teammates. “We don’t have the greatest start”.
Griner will get her first chance to go for the single-game mark against Senegal on Sunday when the USA women’s basketball team begins its Olympic play.
There is no question that the US National Team is stacked.
“We’re not easy to deal with obviously”, said USA coach Geno Auriemma.
While this is Delle Donne’s first major tournament experience with the U.S., Griner and Stewart played for coach Geno Auriemma in the world championship in 2014. They’re playing so well and that’s why.
HollywoodLifers, will you be watching the U.S. Women’s Basketball game?
Five U.S. players scored in double figures, led by Diana Taurasi’s 13 points, in the win, which improved Team USA to 2-0 in group play and extended its Olympic winning streak to 43 games.
We watched Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles and Seimone Augustus play a delightful three-person game, Lynx-style. Once again first-time Olympian Delle Donne was in the middle of it. She had seven points, including a 3-pointer from the wing that made it 27-11 during the game-changing spurt. Senegal lost all six of its games in 2000. “I don’t want to say it turns into just another game, but it turns into just basketball”. Nigeria is the only African country to win an Olympic contest, getting a victory in 2004. We just pulled it through, played together, aggressive, got transition buckets.
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Brittney Griner used her size advantage inside scoring eight of the first 10 points for the United States, and the Americans turned in another perfunctory rout in beating Spain 103-63 on Monday.
