Spain vs. United States
If Team USA keeps on having games like the ones they had against Senegal and Spain, they almost ought to be taking the court with the gold medals already around their necks.
It was another dominating performance from the defending gold medal winners, defeating the world-ranked third best team in the world by a final of 103-63.
For a lot of this game, Team USA’s lead was only either in the high teens or the low 20s. But remember, this is the same basketball team that delivered a historically lopsided score via its Senegal game from two days ago.
After defeating Senegal by a jaw-dropping 65 points, leading Spain by only 17 or 23 is relatively close by USA standards.
That was until the fourth quarter when Spain was outscored 29-12 and Team USA once again passed the century mark for points.
Diana Taurasi scored 13 and Sylvia Fowles and Elena Delle Donne each had 12.
Canada vs. Serbia
Ever hear of the phrase “don’t call it a comeback?”
One wonders how that is said in Portuguese. Or even in French which is one of Canada’s primary languages.
Serbia had a 57-45 lead on Canada after three quarters. Serbia’s first victory of the Rio 2016 Olympics was well within reach.
But there is a reason Canada’s Kia Nurse went to UConn. This is a recurring theme that players from UConn seem to do well professionally either domestically or internationally. She spearheaded a ferocious Canada comeback which led to her team shocking Serbia and winning by a final of 71-67.
Instead of Serbia finding its first win, Canada remains undefeated.
Nurse’s 25 points accounted for roughly a third of her team’s point output. Canada began the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run. This made it a game and they did not look back.
Japan vs. Brazil
So much for home-court advantage.
After suffering a defeat in its first game of these Olympics that saw Australia come back after being down by a large number of points, Brazil took the court to face Japan only to see Japan also top the home country.
The team representing the host nation of this year’s Olympics were roundly beaten by the team representing the host nation of the 2020 Summer Olympics by a final of 82-66. And at one point in this game, Japan led by 21 points over Brazil, proving that Team USA is not the only squad at these Games that can put together a rout.
Led by the 23 points of Ramu Tokashiki and 12 more each from Maki Takada and Mika Kurihara, Japan advanced to 2-0 after a tough win over Belarus in which they only won by four points.
Iziane Castro (20), Damiris Dantas (17), Clarissa dos Santos (13), and Erika de Souza (10) accounted for a combined 60 points between the four.
China vs. Senegal
This game was brought to you by the phrase Déjà vu.
We all know what happened to Senegal at the hands of Team USA on the second day of competition at these Rio Games. So what was to happen when Senegal stepped on the court against the eighth-ranked team in the world, China?
More of the same. It may not have been 121-65, but it still was a very USA-like result with China blowing out Senegal, 101-64.
But unlike the matchup against Team USA which was literally never close, this one actually was at the half with China only ahead 47-38. It was only a nine-point gap between the two teams.
The second half went like this—China 54, Senegal 26.
Two reasons for that—China shot 56 percent from the field and they also shot 60 percent from behind the three-point arc as opposed to 27 percent for Senegal.
China also had two players who each finished with 17 points—Ting Shao and Mengran Sun. Astou Traore led Senegal with 16.
Again, no USA basketball today (they got Serbia tomorrow), but here is what’s on tap for today…
Australia vs. France –11:15 a.m. ET
Brazil vs. Belarus – 2:30 p.m. ET
Turkey vs. Japan – 4:45 p.m. ET
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
