Team USA has a chance to win their sixth consecutive gold medal on Saturday after finishing off France in the semifinals, 86-67. USA won it without their starting point guard, Sue Bird, who is day-to-day with a knee sprain she suffered in the quarterfinals. It's unclear if she'll play in the gold medal game.
The Americans had the open looks they've been getting all tournament, but failed to convert in a very poor shooting first half. Brittney Griner had a tough time finishing over the outstretch of a much smaller Isabelle Yacoubou, while Diana Taurasi rushed a few three-point attempts and Elena Delle Donne missed open looks. For the first time in Rio, Taurasi didn't hit a first-half three-pointer and finished the half with just six points. Griner had just four.
It was a shaky first half that definitely showed a hole in the offense that Bird usually fills as the team's assists leader. She's the only true pass-first point guard on the roster, but Seimone Augustus, who started in place of her, made an impact in the first half with six points and four rebounds. The Americans, despite only leading by four at the half, were still firmly in control, and separation was inevitable. That is, if they could contain France's Marine Johannes, who knocked down a pair of deep threes for nine points.
France trailed 40-36 at the half.
The tides turned as expected once Taurasi, the leader in made three-pointers at the Olympics, got rolling. She connected on a pair of threes that helped break the lead open into double-digits. Sylvia Fowles also came up big on both ends, finishing the game with 12 points and nine rebounds. She was especially aggressive on the offensive glass.
Team USA outscored France 25-8 in the third quarter, opening up the lead.
Some remnants of sloppy play lingered over into the fourth quarter, and France was able to cut the lead to as close as 11 points. But it was nothing too serious as Team USA continued to coast, though they won by their narrowest margin at 19 points.
The Americans go for another gold on Saturday against Spain.
Team USA trailed 6-2 to start the game, which was their largest deficit in Rio
The Americans have been blowing out opponents, and typically getting the job done right away. They won by more than 40 points on average in the group stage and beat Japan by 46 points in the quarterfinals. It took seven games for them to trail by just two buckets. That is just incomprehensible in a sport like basketball.
This team has been nothing short of incredible, perhaps even the best Olympic basketball team of all time.
There isn't enough talk about Sylvia Fowles
Minnesota Lynx center Sylvia Fowles, the league's reigning finals MVP, is sometimes forgotten, especially behind Brittney Griner off the bench. However, she's been exceptional.
She scored 12 points and added nine rebounds in the semifinals game, three of them on the offensive glass, and she was active defensively. She was a large part of the reason the Americans were able to overcome their first-half shooting woes, as she had five points off one field goal attempt in the first quarter alone.
She came into the semis firing a 71 percent true shooting percentage, and getting to the free throw line at her team's second-highest rate at nearly three per game. The Americans have had huge production out of both of their centers and are spoiled to bring in a starting talent like Fowles off the bench.
The Americans are about to win gold yet again
USA crushed Spain in the opening round by 40 points, and after a lackluster showing by the Spaniards in semifinal play on Thursday morning against Serbia, there's no reason to believe the same thing won't happen again.
In their first matchup, which ended in a 103-63 American rout, Spain turned the ball over 23 times and shot 35 percent from the field. No American player ran more than 24 minutes on the court and five players scored double-digit points, none more than 13. Everyone should get a chance to play healthy minutes in the gold medal-winning game and it shouldn't take anything special for it to be comfortable with or without Sue Bird.
