Bird left the game against Japan in the second quarter and did not return.
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The Americans are 87-1 from 1996 in Olympic and world championship games.
United States’ Diana Taurasi celebrates a score during a women’s quarterfinal round basketball game against Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. “But they started to get going late in the second quarter and from there, they started hitting shots from inside and outside, and took control”.
Tested for the first time at the Rio Games, Diana Taurasi and the US women’s basketball team responded with another convincing win. After the game Bird told ESPN’s Julie Foudy that she felt a “pop” in her knee. They are a good team.
“Today they created lots of problems for us”.
Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi began lighting it up in every way offensively and really taking over. “They’re cheering for anyone else overseas, so we’re pretty used to it”.
The U.S. has faced Japan more times than any other team since 1983. It was all Japan. I knew if we were going to go, we were going to go with it all hanging out.
We’ve heard about how old this American roster is with the average age being 31 and it showed against the endless stamina of Japan’s young guards.
As Japan drew even with the U.S.at 22-all, the “Michael Jordan of volleyball” halted play and told his team, “This is not a surprise”. They came back there in the third set, but that is just what they do. They’re so fun to watch.
“The noise was for me, to get the ball in the goal”. Who shoots threes from like 28 feet? That’s the beauty of these Olympics: there’s a 80% chance we’ll witness a dominant performance, a 19% chance we’ll have an entertaining game and a 1% chance of one of the most surprising upsets of the year.
When asked if Kurihara resembles the female version of National Basketball Association superstar Stephen Curry, Auriemma didn’t hesitate: “She’s the closest I’ve seen”. Anne Buijs and Judith Pietersen also helped the team with 15 points and 17 points apiece. It’s are you willing to do the little things, are you willing to really concentrate in the rotations and make the extra pass. The gold and bronze medal games are Saturday.
Japan’s Rio Olympic Games are over with the loss.
“Except for the first set, it was a spectacular performance by our team that never gave up”, said Lang, nicknamed the “Iron Hammer” one of the sport’s greatest players of the 20th century, according to the International Volleyball Federation.
On the Korean side, reigning 2012 London Olympics Most Valuable Player, Kim Yeon Koung is the lone bright spot for the team.
From that point the result was predictable, the US shooters finding their range to pour in over 100 points for the fifth time in six games in a lopsided contest. But with most teams, that won’t happen.
Everything that the Americans had to pitch at Japan in the first half, they had an answer for.
“If you look at the way they played in this tournament, they had Australia beat”. “That was a pretty fantastic brand of basketball against a really good team. You look at the score, and you think it was an easy game, but Japan is one of the toughest teams – you ask anyone – in this tournament to play against”.
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“I would be surprised if they’re not in the medal round”. But thinking about Brazil, expecting to play them, won’t bring them happiness, at least not in Kiraly’s expectations-free world. “But I don’t know if they have enough experience playing at this level yet because they haven’t done that yet”.
