With the history between the two rivals, everyone sort of figured the USA and Spain would meet somewhere.
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The U.S. women’s basketball team downed France 86-67 in their Olympic semifinals match at the Carioca Arena in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and will now go up against Spain for the gold medal.
Taurasi led all players in scoring with 18 points, to go with 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
The Americans’ 19-point margin of victory was far below their average of 41.7 in their first six games in Rio, and at halftime they were ahead by a mere four points.
They also suffered with the absence of team anchor Sue Bird, benched by a sprained knee.
Was it true? Was the “B” team that the United States had sent to Rio just not good enough to samba their way to an Olympic gold medal? France will square off against Serbia in the Bronze Medal Game.
As Collins said, this is the Paul George we see in the National Basketball Association, and especially when he was in the game, the United States looked much more like the world beaters they should be.
“This is where we wanted to be”, Kevin Durant said. France needed to ugly the game up and slow down the pace to stay close and that’s exactly what they were able to do.
The Americans have won 23 straight in the Olympics since Argentina beat them in the 2004 semifinals, and this was how they usually do it: too much firepower, too much defense, and way too much talent. They edged out Serbia in a 94-91 victory led by Kyrie Irving’s 15 points, and barely made it past France, beating them 100-97 led by Klay Thompson’s 30 points. Australia led the U.S.at the half 54-49, being the first time the USA had trailed at the half since the 2004 Olympics. I would say we were just better tonight and more who we can be.
The United States and Spain played early in the group stage, with the US romping to a 103-63 win, and few expect a different outcome on Saturday.
“It’s a Game 7”, Jordan said of the gold medal contest.
“I think the key of the game was their defense”, Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said. The Americans will play Spain in the semifinals Friday.
Spain already is without Marc Gasol, who broke his foot during the National Basketball Association season, but after the win over Argentina, Krzyzewski was asked how he planned to deal with the Gasol brothers.
The talk of Paul George being an MVP candidate sounds very reasonable when he’s making such an impact on a team full of All-Star caliber players. But the Spanish, as they had in the previous two Olympics, found their stride just in time to run into the Americans. They were criticized for putting together a team of marquee names rather than a team that meshes and has role players that work well together. It was 36-32 U.S.in the second quarter and 53-48 U.S.in the third.
It finished group play with three consecutive victories and is playing its best basketball of the tournament.
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Now they need to do it again to take the next step toward their goal.
