The U.S. women’s basketball team’s bid for an eighth consecutive gold medal at the Paris Olympics got off to a strong start Monday.
Team USA easily defeated Japan in their opening group match, winning 102-76. The relatively big frontcourt of Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson led the team, combining for 46 points on 21-of-31 shooting. Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum and Sabrina Ionescu added 11 points each, and Chelsea Gray had 13 assists.
Japan was dominated from the start of the game. The size advantage of the U.S. was obvious. The U.S. grabbed 56 rebounds to Japan’s 27. The U.S. especially dominated offensive rebounds, grabbing 19 of the 35 missed attempts. Offensive rebounds outnumbered Japan’s defensive rebounds. Wilson, Griner, and Stewart combined for 30 rebounds, more than the entire Japanese team.
Japan hung in there. Maki Takada came off the bench to provide firepower with 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Mai Yamamoto led Japan’s starters with 17 points on 5-of-11 3-pointers. The 3-point shot was Japan’s only area of success on Monday. Japan made 15-of-38 3-pointers and dominated for about 20 minutes.
If the U.S. had a problem, it was outside shooting. The U.S. made only 4 of 20 3-pointers, but that didn’t matter. More importantly, the U.S. made 38 of 57 2-pointers for a staggering 66.7% success rate. The offensive game plan was incredibly simple: get the ball into the paint, shoot over the heads of smaller defenders, and rebound any misses. Japan was so bad inside that it didn’t matter that they were +33 on 3-pointers.
There was a lot of discussion before the Olympics about who would be left off the national team, but Monday’s game was a reminder of how much talent remains on the team in Paris — the U.S. has a strong lineup that will be difficult for rivals to catch.
