The revamped USA women’s basketball team may have been the greatest of all time.
The Americans completed, statistically, their most dominant world championship in history by defeating China 83-61 in the FIBA World Cup final on Saturday in Sydney, giving them a 60-game winning streak among the Olympic Games and the 2006 World Cup.
It marked the largest margin of victory in a World Cup final since the event switched from a round-robin format in 1983.
For the tournament, the United States outscored its opponents by an average of 40.75 points per game, surpassing its previous Olympic and World record of 37.625 points from the 2008 Beijing Games. It was just shy of of the legendary 43.8 points per game margin of the 1992 US Olympic team. This American team scored 98.75 points per game, the most in the world since 1994.
“We came here on a mission, a business trip,” tournament MVP Hey Wilson he said in a postgame press conference before turning to the coach Cheryl Reeve. “I think we played pretty well, coach.”
Since the United States won a seventh straight Olympic title in Tokyo, Sue Bird i Sylvia Fowles retired Tina Charles he gave up his place in the national team to younger players. Brittney Griner he was detained in Russia (and still is). Diana Taurasi suffered a quad injury at the end of the WNBA season that ruled her out of the World Cup (who knows if the 40-year-old Taurasi will ever play for the United States again).
Not only that, but Reeve of the Minnesota Lynx got it Dawn Staley as head coach, implementing a new up-tempo system.
“There was probably a lot of concern, and maybe around the world they looked at it and said, ‘Hey, now’s the time to get the U.S.,'” Reeve said Saturday.
The United States’ response was encapsulated by the forward Alyssa Thomasthe oldest player on the roster at age 30 who made the US team for the first time in her career, started every game and was named the team’s tailback and MVP entering the end
Wilson and Tokyo Olympic MVP Breanna Stewart they were the leaders. guard Kelsey Plum, a 3×3 Tokyo Olympian, blossomed last WNBA season and was third in league MVP voting. He averaged the most minutes on the team, scoring 15.8 points per game and scoring 17 in the Finals.
“The depth of talent we have showed,” Reeve said. “What I’m most pleased with was the trust and commitment.”
For the first time since 1994, no player on the U.S. roster was over 30, raising a scary thought for the 2024 Paris Olympics: The Americans could get even better.
“When you say best, I’m always very cautious about that, because obviously there are great teams out there,” Reeve said when asked specifically about the team’s defense. “It was very difficult to play against this group.”
Earlier Saturday, 41-year-old Australian legend Lauren Jackson wound back the clock with a 30-point performance off the bench in his final game as an Opal, a 95-65 win over Canada for bronze. Jackson, coming off a six-year layoff and playing in his first major tournament since the 2012 Olympics, had his best scoring performance since the 2008 Olympics.
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Do us a favor!
