So to sum up ...
Brittney Griner wound up with 30 points. A’ja Wilson scored 19 and blocked five shots. Breanna Stewart had 14 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks.
For Japan, Takada Maki had 17 points. Motohashi Nako, with that shoot-from-the-hip style, had 16. Machida Rui had eight points and six assists, deceptively low stats for such an impressive player.
It’s Japan’s first medal in this sport. Their previous best was fifth in 1976. We can only hope they’ll stick around on the world’s stage playing this brilliant form of basketball.
Thanks for watching with me, and enjoy the last few hours of the Olympics. Or sleep. Or lunch.
US WOMEN WIN GOLD
It’s a 90-75 final, a fair score showing how well Japan played against a team that simply had too many advantages in this game in size and experience.
The teams are exchanging hugs and smiles. Terrific sporting spirit here.
All hail Bird and Taurasi. Seriously.
This team lost an exhibition to Australia. You can’t take this for granted.
Miyazaki Saori is all smiles after she drives, scores and is fouled. Those are her first points of the game. Sweet to see.
Skylar Diggins is in, and that’s the entire bench.
Machida is also out for Japan, which is a pity. I’d like to see her play more.
And right on cue, Napheesa Collier and Ariel Atkins are in. Sue Bird is out, and it’s a pity there’s no crowd to applaud what is likely the last international game of a distinguished career.
Sylvia Fowles scores. She’s only the ninth player used in this game. The other three have to be wondering how big the lead has to be before they get to play.
6-0 run for Japan. It’d be nice if they could finish within 20 points.
Griner has 30 now, and I actually would’ve liked to see her dunk on that play.
USA 81-59 Japan, 6:35 left as Japan calls timeout after a Breanna Stewart rebound and basket inside.
Griner has 28, Wilson has 19, Stewart has 13. I’d happily watch an exhibition under special rules in which the USA can only play one of that trio at a time. They’re too big for Japan, but also, they’re too good. We’ve seen some tall women in this game who did very little but be tall. That doesn’t describe these three.
Mary Waltz writes: “I want to commend you. The outcome of this match is obviously decided, yet you are boldly trying to make this thread interesting. And you’re actually succeeding in your attempt.”
Hey, I’m not giving up. It’s just a 23-point lead with 7:40 -- oh, make it 20! Here comes the comeback!
Todo Nanako lines up for three. A’ja Wilson blocks it with a thud.
Blocked shots in the game: USA 12, Japan 0.
Griner pushes her total to 28 on a nifty post move. Give her credit -- she’s not just turning around and dinking the ball into the hoop every time. Some of these shots are challenging, and she’s been flawless.
END 3Q: USA 75-56 Japan
Dawn Staley can clear the bench pretty soon. Four players have not yet seen action.
Idle question here ...
Is this the most dominant team in the world?
I can’t think of anyone else. The US water polo women lost one game in Tokyo. Handball and volleyball aren’t foregone conclusions. Even the US women’s eights in rowing have lost their win streak.
Is anyone else even close?
Takada with a turnaround jumper. Nice.
Then Wilson blocks a shot, and Stewart flings the ball down to Bird.
Japan timeout at 70-49.
WOW, what a layup by Machida, whom an WNBA team should really throw money. Fantastic to watch.
But it’s 68-47.
Japan has gone cold again. They’ve been getting decent looks from outside and made some solid drives, but the US shot-blockers are in their heads, and they’re rushing things.
It’s awfully nice of the US defense, though, to leave the paint open. Takada scores inside as Machida adds to her assist total.
You have to wonder why the USA doesn’t just leave Griner or Wilson in the paint to completely take away the inside option.
We resume with Machida driving confidently. Griner answers. Machida finds Takada, who has a rare size advantage over a defender (Bird) and scores.
Then Griner blocks a shot, and Wilson grabs an offensive rebound between three players. Scores.
Another block. Another Wilson basket on a short jumper. Lead is back up to 15.
The correct answer on how to rank countries’ performances at the Olympics ...
Don’t.
Sure, you’ll have national teams rather than just sending the Las Vegas Aces and Milwaukee Bucks to play basketball. You’ll need country quotas so China doesn’t take the first 35 places in a diving competition (OK, 34 out of 35, because we’ll assume Tom Daley is in there somewhere), but otherwise, dial down the jingoism.
If you want to do comparisons, form fantasy leagues. Hey, if they can make baseball interesting ...
This is fun to watch, and the USA only outscored Japan 27-25 in that second quarter. We can only lament Japan’s poor shooting in the first few minutes. Nerves clearly got the better of them, and that resulted in some poor shots and some poor decisions.
So ... share your thoughts on email or Twitter. Or just stop by, but I think my family’s asleep, so knock quietly.
HALFTIME: USA 50-39 Japan
Each team shows its strength to end the half. Griner scores inside to run her tally to 18. Machida drives and kicks out to Akaho Himawari for 3.
Gray with a neat pass to find the cutting Wilson. Machida does the same to find Takada at the other end. Then Gray with an unnecessarily violent foul on Takada.
But Japan can’t inbound it, and Hovasse starts joking around with Taurasi.
USA 46-32 Japan, and Griner has 16 after grabbing a ball that Taurasi just tossed up near her and putting it in.
Timeout Japan. I assume Coach Hovasse is going to urge his team to be taller.
More big-time big-person play. Griner scores easily inside. Wilson swats away a 3-pointer. Stewart scores. Japan can’t get a shot away.
USA 38-32 Japan after a 3-pointer from Miyoshi Naho.
Motahashi has a shot to cut the lead to four with that heaving motion, but she misses this time. A’ja Wilson, who has been relatively quiet so far, scores inside.
But then Motohashi managed to score inside. They’re sticking around.
The hole in the US defense is that twice now, they’ve been so distracted by the perimeter players that literally no one is in the paint. Okoye Monica converts this time.
Motohashi drives and thinks she’s beaten Stewart. Then Stewart just turns around and spikes the ball into the bank of photographers by the baseline.
If Japan hadn’t missed so many early shots, this might be a game. They really are fun to watch. You wouldn’t want to teach Motohashi’s shooting style, in which she looks like she’s using her whole body at a 30-degree angle to fling it forward, but she just hit her third 3-point of the game to cut the lead to seven.
NBC is interviewing the other half of the great women’s sports power couple, Megan Rapinoe, because we haven’t seen enough of her in the past two year.
Japan apparently hits a 3-pointer while that’s going on. And someone from the USA does as well.
And a nifty move in the post by ... um ... Takada?
END 1Q: USA 23-14 Japan
Chelsea Gray, who shares an alma mater with me, draws about 30 Japanese defenders. Gray swings it to Stewart, who swings it to Jewell Loyd, who has no defender with 20 feet of her. 3-pointer accounts for the final points of the quarter.
Mawuli Evelyn drives against Stewart, who blocks it with her forearm.
But they then trade two for three -- a Griner layup, another Motohashi 3-pointer. It’s 20-14.
Japan is 2-for-13 as they bring in a bunch of subs. Their only hope is to wear out the US with a fast pace and hit their outside shots.
Motohashi Nako does just that, immediately hitting a 3.
Japan scores! It’s Takada with a 3-pointer. That cuts the lead to 18-8.
Machida then drives against A’ja Wilson, and that’s not a good idea.
In case you want to follow all the US starters on Twitter:
🇺🇸 Starters vs 🇯🇵 Japan 🥇
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 8, 2021
» @S10Bird
» @DianaTaurasi
» @breannastewart
» @_ajawilson22
» @brittneygriner#Tokyo2020 #Basketball pic.twitter.com/IP88Psohhp
Beautiful pass for Japan. Well saved on the baseline. Reverse layup attempt.
And Griner blocks it. Then scores on a jumper at the other end. Timeout Japan, already down nine.
Sue Bird fouls off the ball. She and Diana Taurasi are going for their fifth straight gold medals. They’re still starters, but they’re role players. And unlike the US women’s soccer team, new stars like Stewart and Wilson have stepped up.
Machida drives past everyone out of a halfcourt set and gets a wide-open layup. It clanks off the backboard. Not even on the rim.
It’s 10-2 USA.
And we see the size mismatch right away, as Machida drives the lane, only to see Breanna Stewart and her 11-inch height advantage standing next to her. She stops and runs out of options.
USA take a 4-0 lead, and then Griner blocks a layup with hardly a thought.
But then Takada manages to flip the ball over Griner and in, so ... it won’t be a shutout.
(Again, Japan led the USA after the first quarter last time.0
TIPOFF
Speaking of height-related things, the USA will have a rather substantial advantage. Brittney Griner is 6-foot-8. Sylvia Fowles is 6-foot-6. Japan has two players who are 6-foot-1.
Tom Dart checks in ...
While we’ll never know how Japan might have benefited from an arena packed with home fans here, there are at least a few hundred blue- and red-shirted local volunteers ready to cheer - or at least clap politely, in accordance with the rules - inside the venue to watch the final. One of the nice things about the closing few days of competition across multiple events in Tokyo has been the increased number of volunteers who’ve been permitted to watch the action from the seats. That’s helped lift the atmosphere, as well as being a well-deserved reward for their hard work and unfailing friendliness.
Indeed -- from my perspective in front of a bunch of TVs, the small crowds have been fun, especially with athletes being allowed to see their fellow athletes.
Let’s meet Japan ...
This will be Japan’s first medal in women’s basketball. They got here with a couple of big wins against strong European team -- 74-70 over France in the opener, then an 86-85 thriller against Belgium and the tournament’s best non-US player, Emma Meesseman.
The captain and most experienced international player is Takada Maki, who plays for Denso Iris, a name I will definitely consider when I officially form my midlife crisis rock band. She’s also their leading scorer, with 13.4 points per game. Miyazawa Yuki has 13.2. Machida Rui has an astounding 13.8 assists per game.
American Tom Hovasse is the coach. He played briefly in the NBA but wound up in Japan, then stuck around coaching club teams before ascending to the national team job in 2017. I’m guessing his job is safe.
The US women simply don’t lose. The number of losses in the Olympics or World Cup since the dissolution of the Soviet sports machine can be counted on one hand, and you’d have fingers left over.
A win here would clinch their seventh straight Olympic gold medal. They’ve won 54 straight games at the Games.
But the margins of victory have been slightly smaller this time. Nigeria led at the end of the first quarter and shaved the final margin to nine points. France also led after the first quarter and was within four points after three.
And tonight’s opponent, Japan, also led after a high-scoring first quarter. So ... maybe?
Well, probably not, but I think I’m duty-bound to insist the proceedings here will not be a foregone conclusion.
Yes, I’m the guy who wrote the story exploring alternate ways to define each country’s performance in the Games, whether it’s ranking teams by total medals, gold medals, a points system, a per capita system in which San Marino is utterly crushing it.
There’s a correct answer that I will reveal at halftime.
Meanwhile, the end of the Montenegro-Italy water polo classification match is enthralling.
Good day/night. Everyone what are we watching in the hour before this tips off?
Beau will be here shortly, in the meantime here is how the US men’s team got on yesterday:
We used to talk of the dream team, but this was the tournament of a dream player.
Such is America’s dominance of Olympic basketball that the quadrennial intrigue is not so much whether the US will win gold as whether they could lose it. But for Kevin Durant, the doomsday scenario might have come to pass.
France beat the US in their opening game of the tournament but fell narrowly short in the rematch on the last day. The 32-year-old Brooklyn Nets forward, the nerve centre of the US team, was the chief reason. He scored more points and played more minutes than anyone on the court in a game that ended 87-82, the measliest winning margin in a men’s or women’s final since 1972.
That a tepid start did not spiral into cause for alarm owed much to Durant’s production and determination. He contributed 21 points as the US led 44-39 at half-time.
Click here for the full article:
