Team USA women’s basketball can sense history in the making.
They are just one win away from winning a seventh consecutive gold medal and becoming the greatest dynasty in their sport– men or women. –
The USA made Serbia disappear last night, defeating the defending Euro basket champions, 79-59, in Japan early Friday morning EDT advance to the Olympic finals in a rematch against the host country, which defeated France, 87-71, in its semi-final..
The Americans played suffocating defense, limiting cold shooting Serbia to just 23 points on shooting in the first half and just 30.3 percent shooting for the game. They have reacted to two uncharacteristic exhibition losses to the WNBA All Stars and Australia to emerge as one of the dominant forces ever in these summer games.
The margin of victory may not have been overwhelming in group play like the 2016 Rio team, but it is obvious Team USA has its eye on the prize and no one in the history of the sport with the possible exception of the 1976 Soviet Union gold medal team with 7-7-0 Uljana Semjonova, who won 15 straight European Champions Cups and two Olympics and never lost in an official international competition, has a front court that can compete with them. .
The Soviets dominated every one in those days, beating the silver medal United States team, 112-77, in the 1976 Olympic summer games in Montreal, the first time women’s basketball became an Olympic sport.
The Americans are playing the same way. All it took was a little time to build chemistry.
“It’s good to have seen this team progress,” U.S. national team coach Dawn Staley said. “There is something about each game we played that we’ve gotten better in and that is a beautiful thing to see. You’ve got highly competitive women, and it doesn’t matter what it looks like or who scores. It’s pure, it’s innocent and it’s never duplicated on any other team.”
The U.S. was a bad matchup for Serbia, which does not have any WNBA players and is just starting to assert itself on the international stage. Serbia had no answers for America’s towering 6-9 Brittney Griner, who finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds or versatile wing Breanna Stewart, who added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Point guard Yvonne Anderson, the American-born daughter of St. John’s coach Mike Anderson who recently became a dual citizen, led the Serbians with 15 points.
The United States made quick work of Serbia, taking a 25-12 lead after a quarter and expanding it to 41-23 at half before going into cruise control The USA overwhelmed Serbia with its size, defense and transition.
The U.S. has an embarrassment of riches with veteran 39-year old guard Sue Bird, who along with Diana Tarausi, is attempting to win a fifth Olympic gold medal, combined with Chelsea Gray, who had 14 points off the bench, constantly pitching the ball up court for easy layups. .
Bird, who shot just 1 for 15 in the Americans’; first two pool round games, has rediscovered her shooting stroke, scoring eight points on three of four shooting with two threes. Bird also had 4 assists, 3 steals and 3 rebounds as she heads for what is likely her final Olympic game.
The U.S. should be heavy favorites against Japan, a team they beat by 17 points in pool play, although the Japanese’s dominance of France raised eyebrows. Japan’s biggest player is only 6-1, but it shot 11 o 22 from beyond the arc and got 18 assists from Rui Machida.
Team USA heads into the game with 54 consecutive Olympic victories, dating back to 1992
“This is exactly where we want to be,” Stewart said. “So now everything is on the line and we’re going to do what we can to make sure we come home with a gold.”
