3 takeaways from Staff USA ladies’s basketball’s blowout win over Germany

Three days after they fell to the WNBA All-Star staff, Staff USA bounced again and defeated Germany in resounding trend, 84-57, on Tuesday.

Listed below are three takeaways from Staff USA’s second — and last — exhibition recreation earlier than the 2024 Paris Olympics:

1. Staff USA is (nonetheless) extremely dominant

Photograph by Joe Murphy/NBAE by way of Getty Pictures

The U.S. staff jumped out to a 22-9 lead, took a 44-32 lead on the half, and prolonged that to a 14-point benefit heading into the fourth. They blew the sport open within the last interval en path to a 27-point victory — the kind that’s been quintessential to the ladies’s Olympic basketball program. It was a balanced assault for Staff USA, who had six gamers rating not less than 8 factors and 5 end with not less than 3 assists.

Chelsea Grey, Diana Taurasi, A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Napheesa Collier rounded out the beginning lineup — Collier began rather than Jewell Loyd, who acquired the beginning within the earlier exhibition recreation.

Alyssa Thomas, a first-time Olympian, offered a spark within the second half, ending the night time with 8 factors, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Sabrina Ionescu was additionally impactful off the bench, ending with 8 factors, 4 rebounds, and three assists, and serving to orchestrate a lot of the second-half offense.

Diana Taurasi, the staff’s 42-year-old veteran chief, acquired issues going with two threes within the first interval. Taurasi is pursuing her sixth Olympic gold, which might be essentially the most ever by a basketball participant, and is the oldest American basketball participant to ever play within the Olympics.

Ball motion was key to America’s success all through the night time — the staff dished out a outstanding 27 assists on 30 made baskets, led by Breanna Stewart (5 assists) and Alyssa Thomas (4 assists). Each stars are used to facilitating as forwards on two of the league’s finest groups and helped create open layup alternatives for the staff.

3-point capturing was additionally on Staff USA’s aspect; the U.S. shot 11-26 from downtown, whereas Germany struggled from the perimeter, hitting simply 6-29 threes. Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Loyd, and Jackie Younger every hit a pair of threes. The three-point disparity was a distinction from yesterday’s males’s basketball recreation, during which the US hit simply 6 threes to Germany’s 13. However, there are many sharpshooters on the ladies’s US staff and long-range capturing ought to proceed to be a bonus all through the event.

“It felt superior,” Loyd mentioned in a postgame video for USA Basketball after the win. “The group was nice. We had a bit of bit extra vitality as we speak. It clearly feels higher getting the dub — so let’s go onto the subsequent one.”

2. That is A’ja Wilson’s staff

Photograph by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE by way of Getty Pictures

Wilson, who’s within the midst of a traditionally dominant season, got here out firing from the bounce. Wilson has been by far the perfect participant within the WNBA all 12 months, averaging a league-best 27.2 factors and 11.2 rebounds for the Las Vegas Aces. She’s set to proceed that dominance in Paris.

In Tokyo, Wilson was one in every of America’s main choices, averaging 16.5 factors and seven.3 rebounds. If Tuesday’s 19 factors and 14 rebounds (and the whole thing of the 2024 WNBA season to this point) are any indication, the two-time MVP’s numbers will probably be much more spectacular this time round. Wilson is much more unstoppable when paired when Stewart, a two-time MVP herself. Stewart added 15 factors, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in a team-high 31 minutes.

Wilson and Stewart’s elite particular person protection additionally helped maintain Germany to only 29.41% capturing; the duo additionally mixed for 7 “shares” (mixed steals and blocks).

3. Germany confirmed spectacular resilience

Photograph by Paul Harding/Getty Pictures

The ultimate rating may not have mirrored it, however Germany responded nicely to falling behind by double-digits within the first quarter. That’s as a result of regardless of what anybody who simply watched the 2024 All-Star recreation might imagine, hanging round this traditionally stacked US basketball staff is a powerful feat in its personal proper. Heading into Paris, Staff USA has received 55 straight Olympic video games, and within the 2020 Olympics, they received almost each recreation by double-digits.

The Individuals’ margin of victory has been much more lopsided as of late; within the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. staff received by 33 within the quarter-finals, by 40 within the semi-finals, and by 22 within the finals. On the opposite aspect, Germany is making its debut on the ladies’s basketball aspect.

To make issues much more difficult, Germany’s star participant, Satou Sabally, has been out recovering from a shoulder damage she suffered within the Olympic qualifiers in February. She made her return to the court docket on Tuesday, however was rusty in her debut, capturing simply 3-17 from the sector. However, final 12 months’s Most Improved Participant ought to get more and more comfy as she will get extra on-court reps, and is predicted to be an impactful piece for the Germans transferring ahead.

Luisa Geiselsoder led the best way for Germany with 15 factors on 7-11 capturing, whereas Leonie Fiebich — who’s within the midst of a robust rookie marketing campaign with the Liberty — added 12 factors on 4-10 capturing.

Subsequent Up

Staff USA’s Olympic play formally suggestions off on Monday, July 29 vs Japan, at 3 p.m. ET. Then, the American staff will face Belgium on Thursday, Aug. 1 at 3 p.m. ET, and Germany once more on Sunday, Aug. 4 at 11:15 a.m.

Japan received silver within the 2020 Summer time Olympics, and will as soon as once more be within the combine to medal. When the US and Japan confronted off within the Gold medal recreation again then, Japan had no reply for Brittney Griner, who exploded for 30 factors on 14-18 capturing. America finally got here away with a 90-75 win.

Belgium, who’s led by Emma Meesseman, misplaced within the Quarterfinals final Olympics. Meesseman was the WNBA Finals MVP in 2021, when she led the Washington Mystics to a championship. Although she’s not within the WNBA, Meesseman is poised to be one of many high gamers Staff USA will face this summer time in Paris.