USA wins FIBA

[Iluvacc2]

Lots of significant contributors for USA, but I can't emphasize enough how impactful Alyssa Thomas has been. I was unsure how her game would translate at this stage, but she had 5 steals, 5 assists, 8 rebounds and 12 points. Led the team in minutes, steals and assists.

X______

There were some errant miscues and dropped passes by USA, although that is to be expected since this is the first time the entire team has played together in a game. The play of the game was a ridiculous block by Stewie that led to a ridiculous although, maybe now we should say a regular shot for Gray.

I've been most impressed with AT though, there were some question marks about her ability to be an effective four in FIBA games, but she has answered all questions so far. She seems to be everywhere on the court defensively and offensively. I haven't seen a USA player do that since Catchings was in her prime.

 

[Zarathustra]

US by 20+

USA 77 - China 63 USA was up by 9 with 3:21 seconds to
go in the 4th quarter. See box score for 2 point and 3 point %
USA did not win the battle of the boards. Exciting game.

 

[EricSD]

Alyssa Thomas was a beast. POG by a mile IMHO. Wilson got her points, but she's not the player you want taking mid-range shots. China is too big for her to maneuver effectively around the basket.

Gray took too many one on one shots and single handedly slowed the US scoring in Q4 letting China come down and score after numerous Gray misses. Still, she's really good. Loyd was MIA, Atkins should have seen almost no time on the floor - she was ... not good. Not sure what Laney was doing out there. Stewie did a lot of great things except scoring. He shot was off.

Just my $.02. I thought it was interesting that Ionescu, Jones, and Austin got 0 minutes.

 

[Zarathustra]

Alyssa Thomas was a beast. POG by a mile IMHO. Wilson got her points, but she's not the player you want taking mid-range shots. China is too big for her to maneuver effectively around the basket.

Gray took too many one on one shots and single handedly slowed the US scoring in Q4 letting China come down and score after numerous Gray misses. Still, she's really good. Loyd was MIA, Atkins should have seen almost no time on the floor - she was ... not good. Not sure what Laney was doing out there. Stewie did a lot of great things except scoring. He shot was off.

Just my $.02. I thought it was interesting that Ionescu, Jones, and Austin got 0 minutes.

Maybe Sabrina, B. Jones, and S. Austin are future "surprises" for some
unprepared and unsuspecting future opponent. Then again, USA did need
the "A" team to be on the floor last night to squash any hopes of a
long China run or come back fourth quarter. GO DEFENSE, Go Alyssa,
Go entire team!!

 

[Blakeon18]

U.S. women's basketball team scores 145 points in rout of South Korea, breaking FIBA World Cup record

The U.S. women's basketball team put together a record-breaking performance in its 145-69 rout of South Korea on Monday at the FIBA World Cup.

www.espn.com

USA 145 South Korea 69. Many records set on offense....MANY.

 

[Zarathustra]

U.S. women's basketball team scores 145 points in rout of South Korea, breaking FIBA World Cup record

The U.S. women's basketball team put together a record-breaking performance in its 145-69 rout of South Korea on Monday at the FIBA World Cup.

www.espn.com

USA 145 South Korea 69. Many records set on offense....MANY.

Interesting to note that KOREA scored more points, 69, than China did, 63 (against the USA).
USA wanted the scoring record, but they were kind enough to let up on the defensive pressure!

 

[MilfordHusky]

USA was a little lax on defense, but played a very uptempo game. In the second half, they scored at will, Bri Jones and Kelsey Plum in particular.

 

[cancontent]

This tweet made me chuckle.

 

[Zarathustra]

Half time USA 43 China 33. But the USA was only up 18 - 16
prior to the last USA " push". Which team will run out of steam first.??
Frenetic Defense for USA ( A. Thomas, et al). A'ja Wilson is
the force on offense for USA. She is quicker than the China " bigs".
China with temendous passing, 3 pointers, and passing out of
double teams. Look like a sellout crowd. GO USA.

 

[Zarathustra]

Alyssa Thomsa OUT.... injury. at 6;24 of the third quarter
A shoulder injury. OUCH! Could be a game changer.

 

[MilfordHusky]

AT is back.

 

[Zarathustra]

Alyssa Thomas, back from the locker room. She has
arisen from the dead! USA hitting their 3 pointers.
Kudos to C. Grey and K Plum. Ms. Plum with some
great 3 X 3 moves to the basket for scores. Plum has
a driving dagger as time runs out in the third quarter!
USA defense is the BEST End of third quarter
USA 68 China 47

 

[Zarathustra]

USA 78 China 49 6:24 in the fourth.
Note A Chinese player out with a knee injury
carried off the floor with just over 7 minutes
China somewhat deflated. USA continues to
hit their shots.. It could be the rout is on!

 

[Zarathustra]

Five minutes to GO.... USA putting in the reserves:
A AUSTIN, Sabrina I. some sloppy defense and
offense now for the USA. The margin will close.
USA may miss out on the largest MOV for the
Final in the Championship

 

[Zarathustra]

Final USA 83 China 61
Rebounds USA 37 to 36 CHINA
Assists USA 22 to 15 China
Wilson 19 points, Plum 17 points Go Aces!
Jewel Loyd 11. But praise the defense!
Last game USA 77 China 63 = 14 points
tonight 22 and USA pulled the starters at 5 minutes
to go ( Ms. Plum stayed in for the GLUE to hold
the USA coherent at the end). 16,000 people in the stands!
Australia wins the bronze over Canada.

 

[Zarathustra]

MVP A'ja Wilson All tournament team:
A'ja WIlson, B. Steward,
Seth Talbot and Brigit Carelton, and China's Xan Yu
( of the USA Liberty )
Player of the game for the Championship game was :
Chelsea Grey.

 

[Carnac]

MVP A'ja Wilson All tournament team:
A'ja WIlson, B. Steward,
Seth Talbot and Brigit Carelton, and China's Xan Yu
( of the USA Liberty )
Player of the game for the Championship game was :
Chelsea Grey.

I said it in a recent post, and I'll say it again..............."cream ALWAYS rises to the top." Congratulations to USA head coach Cheryl Reeve, her staff and of course the players on their hard fought victory. Kudos to Alyssa Thomas for her impression of Lazarus. Thomas has grit!!!
Congratulations to Chelsea Gray on being named POG for the games. She got game. She's racking up awards. She was named the tournament MVP for the WNBA championship finals.

Thanks Zarathustra for keeping us up to date on these games.

 

[Zarathustra]

I said it in a recent post, and I'll say it again..............."cream ALWAYS rises to the top." Congratulations to USA head coach Cheryl Reeve, her staff and of course the players on their hard fought victory. Kudos to Alyssa Thomas for her impression of Lazarus. Thomas has grit!!!
Congratulations to Chelsea Gray on being named POG for the games. She got game. She's racking up awards. She was named the tournament MVP for the WNBA championship finals.

Thanks Zarathustra for keeping us up to date on these games.

You are very welcome! Z Final 'odds and ends"
1. Meng Li CHINA did not play against Australia or USA " out with a fever". She
was averaging 16 ppg and was a Player of the Game during the tournament.
These stats are for the full tournament not head to head:
2. points per game USA 98.8 China 81.4
3. 2 point % USA 55.3 China 55
4. 3 point % USA 41.1 China 38.5
5. Rebounds USA # 1 CHINA # 4
6. Assists to Turnover USA 2.3 CHINA 1.8
7.Steals USA # 1
8. Turnovers USA #12 ( best in the field of 12 teams)
We now wait for FIRST NIGHT and " November!!"

 

[JordyG]

China kept it close and competitive for the half. But the US ultimately stopped China's pick and roll game by playing tight on the perimeter and by wising up to China's pocket passes off the dribble. Defensively China's 2/3 defense, which said "we're going to collapse on the US forwards and you can't beat us at the arc" was crushed at the arc by Plum, Gray, and Loyd. By the time China changed to M2M and went back to any high/low offense it was too late. Funnily enough, the US is so deep that the Olympic team may be radically different from this World Cup team. A team which will still be 20 points better than any of these other World Cup teams which will pretty much have the same rosters.

 

[EricSD]

The first half was "only" close because USA was practically 0-fer in 3-point shooting. It opened up in the 2nd half especially with Loyd and Gray hitting outside shots. And of course Plum. Just goes to show how deep USA is. Take out Stewie or Wilson for 1 game and we still rout China.

Every cycle, people keep saying "the rest of the world is catching up". USA proved that even tho the team hardly practices together, give them 2 weeks in a tourney, and they will still still steamroll. Team USA always gets stronger during an event because it's just about the only time they have to practice together.

Overall most impressed with Stewie, Wilson, Gray, Thomas and Plum. Aside from a nice 2nd half, Loyd was MIA for most of the tourney. Atkins had some nice moments. Not sure why Laney made the team. Autin has a nice future as does Ionescu. Jones had some nice moments but not sure she's the future. I thought Copper would have more of an impact but she was sick towards the end of the tourney.

I think there will be some reshuffling for the Olympics coming up next.

 

[Zarathustra]

The Olympics will certainly look different if Cambage comes back for
Australia... and ..... if Brittany Griner is back for the USA! Bring
Brittany HOME!!

 

[TeamFirst!]

China's post play was solid overall. Both were very young and talented. China was missing their top scorer also with a fever. I wonder how their covid approach almost ordains having some covid issues in these sorts of tournaments.

Stewie had a bad game for her but we just had too much talent overall and more athleticism. Thomas was pouring in sweat from the 1st quarter on. Does anyone work harder than she does? Sweat was just pouring off of her.

 

[EricSD]

The Olympics will certainly look different if Cambage comes back for
Australia... and ..... if Brittany Griner is back for the USA! Bring
Brittany HOME!!

I doubt that will ever happen. From what i understand, the entire Australian team said "if she comes back, we walk". that was back when Cambage got into it with the Team Nigeria (i think it was Nigeria). I was surprised anyone in the WNBA wanted to take her on, given her history. She lasted a bit then bailed.

She always has an excuse (now "oh it's my mental health - thank you to all my supporters for giving me strength"). At some point people will likely get hip to her act and stop buying it. Not saying she doesn't have mental health issues, or that if she does, that it's not serious, but she seems to be the gal who cries wolf.

 

[Dillon77]

Funnily enough, the US is so deep that the Olympic team may be radically different from this World Cup team. A team which will still be 20 points better than any of these other World Cup teams which will pretty much have the same rosters.

I think there will be some reshuffling for the Olympics coming up next.

Agree with both of you that the team that goes to Paris may be quite different from the one we saw in Sydney.
Due to the pandemic, the Olympics were pushed back to 2021. Factor in the administrative/coaching switches and short(er) time frame between the Olympics and the World Cup, this team was put together on the fly.

The five players that stick for me are Stewie, Wilson, Thomas, Gray and Plum, with Jewell -- even with several no-shows on offense -- in mind. However, lots of opportunity for some players who were backups (Jones, Ionescu) and those who didn't make the team and/or didn't even get invites. One of the areas I'd like to see a net cast is outside shooting -- namely some sharpshooters who can come in and stretch team defenses.

That said, great job by all concerned here. Well done.

 

[Iluvacc2]

The first half was "only" close because USA was practically 0-fer in 3-point shooting. It opened up in the 2nd half especially with Loyd and Gray hitting outside shots. And of course Plum. Just goes to show how deep USA is. Take out Stewie or Wilson for 1 game and we still rout China.

Every cycle, people keep saying "the rest of the world is catching up". USA proved that even tho the team hardly practices together, give them 2 weeks in a tourney, and they will still still steamroll. Team USA always gets stronger during an event because it's just about the only time they have to practice together.

Overall most impressed with Stewie, Wilson, Gray, Thomas and Plum. Aside from a nice 2nd half, Loyd was MIA for most of the tourney. Atkins had some nice moments. Not sure why Laney made the team. Autin has a nice future as does Ionescu. Jones had some nice moments but not sure she's the future. I thought Copper would have more of an impact but she was sick towards the end of the tourney.

I think there will be some reshuffling for the Olympics coming up next.

Co-sign the bolded!

I believe Boston will get enough experience from her senior year and WNBA rookie season to make the Paris roster. Copper was playing very well before her injury in the quarter finals. That Serbian team was very physical

 

[eebmg]

Co-sign the bolded!

I believe Boston will get enough experience from her senior year and WNBA rookie season to make the Paris roster. Copper was playing very well before her injury in the quarter finals. That Serbian team was very physical

I thought in that one televised pretournament game, Boston played better than Austin. I think the main issue was that Reeve wanted a team that could run all out in transition (especially since with such quick turnaround set plays and half court offense is not ideal) and I think Austin is better in that kind of game.

 

[Zarathustra]

Perhaps Coach Reeves wanted a taller (practice) player , S. Austin, to provide
the some "lenght" needed to help prepare the USA's regulars for the lean and taller
Chinese??. Boston , I believe, will be on the next team! I continue to obsess
about that Chinese player: Meng Li. I looked up the FIBA stats
on her. Losing her was the equivalent of the USA losing either
A'ja WIlson or Kelsey Plum. I believe that Meng Li was rated # 4
behind A'ja and just ahead of Kelsey on the tournament overall
stat sheet . Check the FIBA stats and " individuals"
for more details.. Of course stats don't tell the whole story, but she was one of their
two 3 point threats. China will be back!