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The U.S.A. women’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit to squeeze past the host French team by a final score of 67-66 in the Olympic gold medal game before a delirious sellout crowd at the Bercy Arena. With dominating performances leading up to the championship game, not many experts gave the French squad much of a chance to beat the highly touted, highly favored American team. Most pundits were predicting another American blowout. Only someone forgot to deliver that message to the French women’s team, who came within an inch (literally) of what could only be seen as a monumental upset.
Olympian Diana Taurasi is the only person with six gold medals in basketball. PHOTO: USA BASKETBALL
Credit the French team for their tenacious and physical approach to the game. They jumped on the American team from the opening tap and disrupted the usually smooth-flowing U.S. offensive attack. The U.S. women seemed agitated by the brutally physical defensive play of Team France, causing them to commit 19 turnovers, 13 in the first half, along with missed open shots and general sloppy play. The U.S.’s 25 first-half points, with only 10 coming in the second quarter, were both lows in the competition, with its 13 turnovers nearly matching its game average of 14.8 in these Paris Olympic games.
The U.S. team struggled to get some defensive and offensive rhythm in the second half. U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve knew her team was in trouble and did her best to put them on the right path. She wound up doing one of the best coaching jobs of her career, shuffling lineups to keep defensive and offensive pressure on the home country team. Buoyed by their sellout crowd, the women of France spurted to a double-digit advantage in the third quarter. It seemed like a nightmarish dream for team U.S.A. when it was trailing at the 7:57 mark of the second half, after never trailing in the second half of any game in the tournament.
But when all seemed desperate, team U.S.A. dug deep and found their game. Team stars A’ja Wilson, the Olympic basketball Most Valuable Player, Kaleah Cooper, Breanna Stewart and Kelsy Plum sparked a furious rally that pushed Team U.S.A. to a lead in the final minutes. Cooper’s clutch hoop and two free throws gave the U.S. a 67-64 lead with just seconds remaining in regulation time. French star Gabby Williams, who played her college ball at the University of Connecticut, stepped on the 3-point line as she threw up a last-second shot which banked off the backboard and in for two points, instead of a 3-pointer that would have sent the game to overtime.
Celtic Jrue Holliday in USA quarterfinal action against Brazil. PHOTO: COURTESY OF FIBA.COM
The U.S. women’s basketball team escaped with a 67-66 triumph for their eighth straight gold medal, the most by any country. Diana Taurasi has been a member of six of those eight gold-medal-winning teams, a record.
The U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team experienced similar drama in their 94-91 victory over Serbia in the semi-final contest. Stephen Curry came up clutch when it counted most, scoring 34 points to help the U.S. beat the Serbians for the third time in this Olympic competition.
Gold medal winner Jayson Taytum PHOTO: COURTESY OF FIBA.COM
Curry would follow up his clutch, long-distance shooting heroics with 24 points overall, on 8-for-13 shooting from the 3-point line in the championship game. This feat included four huge 3-point baskets in the waning moments to push the U.S. to a 98-87 triumph. It was Curry’s first gold medal and the 17th for the U.S. men’s team in the Olympic tournament. Thirty-nine-year-old LeBron James was named the Olympic Most Valuable Player for the United States team. Kevin Durant became the all-time U.S. Olympic scorer with points to go with his four Olympic gold medals.
With the continual cries of “The world is catching up with the United States in global basketball supremacy in both the women’s and men’s games,” one last point is that many of the players on foreign teams play in the WNBA and NBA. The gap may be closing, but the United States still sits atop the world basketball mountain.
The women and men who wear U.S.A. on their uniforms plan to keep it that way for as many years as possible.
