The U.S. will face Spain at the Rio Olympics on Saturday – in what will be their sixth straight gold medal game.
Advertisement
The team moved one step closer on Thursday night by defeating France, 86-67, to advance to the gold-medal match.
This was the 48th straight win for the Americans.
“It has been tough and it hasn’t been an easy road”, Angel McCoughtry said. “We’re on the up swing right now and hopefully we can carry that into our next game”.
USA’s forward Maya Moore (R) and Japan’s point guard Asami Yoshida collide during a Women’s quarterfinal basketball match between US and Japan at the Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro on August 16, 2016 during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
United States’ Sue Bird watches her team warm up before a semifinal round basketball game against France at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016.
Stevenson will secure either gold or silver for the USA, something the country hasn’t accomplished since Andre Ward won gold in Athens.
Head coach Geno Auriemma said the answer is the veteran leadership. Everyone should get a chance to play healthy minutes in the gold medal-winning game and it shouldn’t take anything special for it to be comfortable with or without Sue Bird. Or maybe because numerous players have been in this position before – a win away from another Olympic title. The 2016 team has averaged 105 points and 44.7 rebounds, while the 1996 team put up 102.4 points and 42.9 rebounds.
Park is the most decorated major champion at Olympic Golf Course, though she has been largely forgotten this year because of a thumb injury that caused her skip the last two majors. But even if she plays, she won’t be at 100 percent, and point guard is the one position in which the U.S.is lacking.
“We have depth at certain positions, that’s probably not one of them”, USA coach Geno Auriemma said. “We found out a lot about what we need to do and what we’re capable of doing”. “We just have to come out, be prepared and play with all the effort we have”.
The Americans go for another gold on Saturday against Spain.
Taurasi, Bird and Tamika Catchings are all going for their fourth straight gold medal. Bird said she plans to practice today. Never say never, but with the size and talent of Brittany Griner and Tina Charles and the skill sets of players like Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi, Team USA could once again be poised for a trip to the gold medal game. As a group, the U.S.is outscoring opponents by an average of 41.7 points.
However, it is the defensive effort that is keeping the U.S.in games.
The 35-year-old Bird was hurt with 6:33 left in the second quarter of Tuesday night’s 110-64 win over Japan in the quarterfinals.
The result in the semifinal against France was similar.
France has also has had to deal point guard problems.
The tides turned as expected once Taurasi, the leader in made three-pointers at the Olympics, got rolling.
But the Americans (7-0) started playing a better on both ends of the court in the decisive third quarter. We’re going to process that some, we get some time to grieve.
U.S. crushed Spain in the opening round by 40 points, and after a lackluster showing by the Spaniards in semifinal play on Thursday morning against Serbia, there’s no reason to believe the same thing won’t happen again. Outside of one quarter, the game was neck and neck, but that 10 minutes made all the difference as to get through, the U.S. leaned on each other to pull away.
“I don’t think you get to where any of us are without being smart”, Bird said. “They are going to try to find ways to attack our weak points”. Kovacs, whose first attempt of the day measured 71 feet, 5 ½ inches (21.78 meters) and was good enough to take silver, looked to pass that the mark established by Crouser but fell short. “I can be happy with the way things have been going”. “We still have one more to win”.
Advertisement
Jaylon Thompson is a student in the Sports Media Certificate program at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
