But when you’ve been the point guard for the U.S. national team dating back 16 years, running the show at every major global competition since 2002, and the team has not lost an Olympic game in all that time, it’s not surprising that the sight of Bird on Thursday would be disorienting for the U.S. The sight of Bird walking out in her navy team warm-up suit unable to play in the American team’s semifinal against France because of a sprained right knee capsule might have even felt like an unprecedented opportunity for France, which had five or six players and coaches standing and watching the U.S. layup line before the game as if they couldn’t believe their luck.
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Serbia’s players cried in triumph after the biggest win in their program’s history.
“It was definitely tough”, Tina Charles said. “It is going to mean a lot as we are ready for the gold-medal game”.
Diana Taurasi scored 18 points as the US won Thursday night without the services of Sue Bird.
All-in-all, the US women athletes have earned a total of 41 medals with 17 gold medals included.
For the record, all straight since 1992, the USA women’s team hadn’t had encountered defeat.
The U.S. and Spain played in the preliminary round, and the U.S. won by 40. She made three triples in the game – the second of which broke the Olympic record for most three-point field goals in a single Olympic tournament. The 2016 team has averaged 105 points and 44.7 rebounds, while the 1996 team put up 102.4 points and 42.9 rebounds.
American captain Sue Bird did not suit up after spraining her right knee on Tuesday against Japan.
“It’s a very emotional time when you’re around these players – Sue, Diana and Tamika – and you know this may be their last”, said Auriemma. “We will be more prepared going into Saturday”. Bird’s status is day to day.
“The Dream Team, they just were not concerned about the competition”, said Krzyzewski, an assistant on that team. “It cuts deep. It’s very painful, and that’s OK”, U.S. coach Karch Kiraly said.
However, it is the defensive effort that is keeping the U.S.in games.
The French put up a vigorous and passionate fight in the final quarter. One was an embarrassing 19-point loss to Puerto Rico, a team the USA should have beaten easily.
The semifinal matchup versus France was a display in depth.
Diana Taurasi shifted more of her focus to distributing on offense and led the team with four assists while scoring a team-high 18 points. Heading into Thursday’s semifinal against France, the American women are 5-0 in Rio, winning by margins of 46, 30, 26, 40 and 65 points.
The third quarter turned out to be the difference. But it did get the win and now has 48 consecutive Olympic victories.
With Bird out of the game resting her knee in hopes of playing in the final game of the Olympics, Seimone Augustus stepped up in her starting position bringing her smooth jump shot to the game early.
“I think that (practice) helped us”, said coach Mike Krzyzewski, the Duke legend who took over the national team in 2005, is 58-1 since (including 51 consecutive wins; 23 in the Olympics) and will retire as national team coach after this game.
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“What’s better for me is knowing that the people that started that journey, I got a chance to play with”, Catchings said. “They are going to try to find ways to attack our weak points. Doesn’t always look good, but when it looks it looks great”. Yet, with Australia and Canada both losing in the quarterfinals of the knockout round, their most direct challengers (if one could call them challengers) were not available to give the ladies a bit of a push. “The one thing we didn’t do is we didn’t take any possessions off”.
