U.S. national women’s team coach Dawn Staley could see the global landscape starting to change when she took her South Carolina to Japan for a summer exhibition tour four years ago.
Staley had just coached her SEC team to an NCAA championship but they were no match for the smaller, relentless Japanese national team. “We were trying, but we lost by 25,” she said.
That globalization of the sport is continuing.
The U.S. women’s senior team is still the favorite to win a gold medal, but the games are more competitive and style of play and continuity of personnel have closed the gap between the Americans and the rest oft the world. The U.S. defeated Japan, 86-69, in an Olympic pool round game to go 2-0, but the final score wasn’t indicative of how close the game was for most of 40 minutes. the U.S., which has won 51 straight Olympic games, is not blowing teams out the way it did in 2016 Rio when they won all their games by a margin of 37 points. They only beat Nigeria by nine in their opener.
“It’s just good basketball going on right now in the world” and I think we’re going to be fine,” 6-9 forward Brittney Griner said. “Everybody’s kind of looking at it like ‘Oh, my God,” but it’s not an Oh my God moment. We’re doing what we need to do right now.”
We’ll find out more Monday when the U..S. plays stubborn France in their next test before the knockout round. .
If the Americans have any advantage, it is the dominant play of their front court of 6-5 center A’ja Wilson, Griner and versatile 6-4 Breanna Stewart.
But the guard play has been erratic with the Americans turning the ball over 42 times in two games against full court pressure and their inability to create huge runs offensively. Their perimeter defense has been average at best at times and they no longer dictate tempo.
“I don’t think America likes go go that fast for that long,” said Japanese coach Tom Hovasse, a former Penn State star in the ’80s.
The Americans still have the power to overwhelm teams in the paint. Wilson has been dominant, scoring 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the smaller Japanese whose biggest player is only 6-1, after going off for 18 and 14 in her Olympic debut against Nigeria. Stewart, the most versatile player in the world, had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Griner added had 15. The big three combined for 28 rebounds.
The Americans still have the power to overwhelm teams in the paint. Wilson has been dominant, scoring 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the smaller Japanese whose biggest player is only 6-1, after going off for 18 and 14 in her Olympic debut against Nigeria. Stewart, the most versatile player in the world, had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Griner added had 15. The big three combined for 28 rebounds.
But the Americans have not been share still trying to figure out some issues that could come back to haunt them in the medal round.
“this tournament more than ever feels like a combination of things,” fifth year Olympian and 40-year old point guard Sue Bird said. “I’m never going to give credit to other countries for putting out a great product. There’s so much talent. I think this tournament for us in unique that we have six newcomers and you can’t rush chemistry. We’re still trying to figure it out.”
Japan presented the U.S. with a new set of problems, with a free flowing style and five players who are all capable of making threes. the host nation made 6 of its first 10 threes and scored 30 points in the first quarter. Then, with the game tied at 36, the Americans scored seven straight to start a 13-4 run to close to half with a 49-40 lead Japan created a little drama when they pulled within five in the third quarter before the Americans pulled away. “Japan is a tough team to play against,” Staley said. “After the first quarter, I thought we did a great job of disrupting them and not allowing them o take and make as many three-point shots uncontested. We just forced them to put the ball on the floor and then our bigs got involved. I was happy we locked down and got that done. I’m happy for our team because we are slowly coming together and playing the style of play we need to play to get better and get out of pool play because we’ve got a tough pool.”
Japan which featured backcourt quickness and a patient offense run by Rui Machida, was led by Ezinne Kalu’s 16 points and 6 rebounds. The Japanese opened pool play with a 74-70 upset of France.
It would help if Bird, the consummate leader who has 19 assists in the first two games, could start making shots. Bird has struggled from the field the first two games, missing her first 13 shots before making a three that rolled in off the rim. “Every basketball player has been through something like this,” she said. “It feels good to finally see one go in. I try not to overthink it. You have to have a short memory. It’s easier said than done. It’s unfortunate it’s happening now. I’ll just keep throwing them up.”
