The United States women’s basketball team started their chase for another gold medal on July 29 with a dominant 102–76 win over Japan in their first game of the Olympic tournament.
Team USA’s women’s basketball team has won seven consecutive gold medals in the Summer Olympics, with a bronze in 1992 breaking up nine gold medals overall. The Americans have also won the last four FIBA Women’s World Cup tournaments, most recently placing first in 2022.
Japan took the silver at home in 2020, the only medal their country has won in women’s basketball in the Summer Olympics. They placed ninth in the two most recent FIBA Women’s World Cup events. The Americans had a significant advantage coming in.
Superstar A'ja Wilson was out to show the rest of the world that she is the best player on the planet, and her performance on Tuesday put the Olympic field on notice.
Wilson scored the first basket of the game for the United States, but the next three minutes were a tight, back-and-forth affair. Team USA started to use their defense and transition game to turn into breakouts and sprinted to a 10–4 advantage with some pretty passing.
The United States extended its lead to ten a couple of times in the first quarter, but Japan answered back both times, relying on its three-point shooting. Kelsey Plum came off the bench to give the U.S. a spark with five early points, and Brittney Griner dominated the boards, picking up four rebounds—three of which were offensive—in the opening 10 minutes.
At the end of the first quarter, Team USA led 22–15 on the scoreboard and held a 16-8 rebound advantage. Griner and Breanna Stewart (five) had more combined rebounds in the first than their opponents did as a team. Wilson led the way with ten points in the opening quarter.
Continued dominance on the glass helped the U.S. score eight unanswered to take a four-point lead to 12 quickly before Japan used their first timeout early in the second quarter. But Japan continued to knock down three-pointers to stay relatively close. Their screen game was very good, and Japan was able to get the right matchups to find good, open looks from deep.
The Americans took a 50–39 lead to the half, led by 17 points from Wilson and 14 from Stewart. Chelsea Gray had 11 assists in 14:16 before the intermission to lead Team USA’s offense, while Wilson (7), Stewart (6), and Griner (6) took care of the rebounding. Japan was credited with only 14 assists in the first half to 31 for the U.S., and the Americans had a 5-0 blocked shot advantage as well.
Turning turnovers into fast break points was also a big advantage. The U.S. created 10 points off turnovers and had 13 fast break points in the opening 20 minutes. And, with their size differential, the U.S. had a 32–10 advantage in points in the paint.
Japan’s deep shooting was their best weapon. They were 9 of 23 from three-point range in the first half, led by Mai Yamamoto. She was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and was the only Japanese player in double figures at the half.
The Americans’ size and ball movement were overwhelming at the start of the second half. When Japan called their first timeout of the third quarter, the U.S. had extended its lead to 69–49, with the combination of Wilson and Stewart proving to be too much for Japan to handle. Those two had 13 of the United States’ first 19 points of the second half before the timeout.
At the end of the third quarter, the U.S. led 79–57. Japan had only made 9 of 26 shots from inside the arc but 12 of 32 from three-point range. The U.S. had a 44–20 rebound advantage; Wilson and Stewart had as many combined rebounds as Japan through 30 minutes of action. The two WNBA stars had 44 combined points.
Sabrina Ionescu knocked down a couple of threes as Team USA expanded its enormous lead in the fourth quarter. Even with reserves playing the final three minutes of the game, the United States’ ball movement and screens were still very good, and they continued to dominate the glass.
Stewart finished the game plus-30 in 25:59 on the floor with 22 points and eight rebounds. Wilson led the US with 24 points and 13 rebounds and was plus-20 in 26:07 on the floor. They were joined in double figures scoring by Plum, Griner, and Ionescu, who got hot in the fourth quarter. Gray attempted only five shots but led the Americans with 13 assists.
Team USA out-rebounded Japan 55-27 and finished with an 11–0 block advantage.
Japan was led by 22 points from Maki Takada, who made all seven of her two-point attempts. Other than Takada’s seven, Japan only made six two-pointers (on 28 attempts) in the game but shot 15 of 38 from downtown. Yamamoto finished with 17 points.
Team USA won, while Diana Taurasi attempted only two shots and scored two points in 14:49 in the game.
