The United States walloped Spain 101-72 on Saturday to win the gold medal in Rio. The U.S. also picked Spain’s pocket 13 times and forced 23 total turnovers.
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Taurasi scored 18 points and Maya Moore added 15 against France in what was the closest game of the Olympics for the Americans. Valerie Adams won three medals in the women’s shot put, taking gold in 2008 and 2012 and silver in Rio. “This is going to be a great game between great teams and great players alike”.
“I have been very fortunate to have coached some of the most iconic players in the game, so the biggest challenge is next year”, Auriemma said. Then, on August 12, the Americans faced Canada, a team that had handed Stewart a rare defeat in worldwide competition (though with a different roster) during the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. “I know because of the overlap that we’ve had, that hopefully we can keep it going”. “So, to finally get the thumbs-up from the doc that everything was okay was incredibly relieving and exciting, and obviously I’m very happy”. Without Bird, the Americans looked discombobulated at times on offense against France.
This team’s average margin of victory in the eight games it played was 36.6 points, or five more than the ’96 club’s margin.
With the likes of Taurasi and Bird seeing, perhaps, their last Olympic action, Stewart, along with the likes of Brittney Greiner and Elena Della Donne, are expected to lead Team USA through at least the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where the expectations for golden dominance for the Red, White and Blue will remain the same. It was the first time in 31 Olympic contests she wasn’t on the court.
“During the game, pretty hard”. “We were just a little out of sorts and I feel like I can help in that department”.
And, as Bird and Taurasi said, they did it by copying the example of the teams that started the streak way back when.
The team seemed to get the message, going on a 14-5 run to start the period, including two 3-pointers by Taurasi that gave the Americans some breathing room.
Crouser did take his sixth attempt in hopes of both surpassing his newly established Olympic record and making a run at the world record (23.12 meters), taking advantage of what was essentially a “free attempt”.
Though the US outscored France 25-8 in the period, it had two 24-second shot clock violations.
“I think they chose to play basketball, and when they decide it’s hard to stop them, at least in one-on-one”, French center Isabelle Yacoubou said. We were really lucky to have the older players, the veterans on that team, show us with their focus on how to play, and with their work. But it did get the win and now has 48 consecutive Olympic victories.
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It was only the second time in Rio that the USA didn’t reach 100 points in a game.
