Sabrina Ionescu spoke about this match as ” a breath of fresh air “On Tuesday evening, behind the 19 points and 14 rebounds of the inevitable A'ja Wilson, the Americans largely beat Germany (84-57) at the end of a rare preparation match for them.
A few days earlier, they had suffered a setback when they lost the WNBA All-Star Game to a star-studded selection of players. The signal was all the more intense because Team USA was only going to play one more game, against the Germans, before starting their Olympic tournament on Monday against Japan.
” I'm so glad the All-Star Game is over and we can finally get away from all the noise, focus on ourselves and realize that we need to stay focused on what's important. “, Judge A'ja Wilsonwhose formation held Germany to just 29% shooting success.
“Chameleons”
The Americans know what's at stake: winning an eighth consecutive gold medal in Paris. To better understand the event and turn the page on their star-studded defeat in Phoenix, Cheryl Reeve's players signed a striking training session on Monday, the day before the friendly match.
” I thought it was a training session we needed. We don't have many chances and I liked our approach. A lot of positive things happened in training and were great for us. “, reports the coach, describing this session as ” very active “.
” It's day 1, the first training session, the first step towards the standards and the goal we want to achieve, so we can't take many training sessions lightly. “, judges A'ja Wilson.
The imposed schedule is indeed very tight for them. It should be remembered that these Games are inserted in the middle of the WNBA season. Until July 18, the teams of the women's championship were still facing each other.
The Americans therefore had to “switch” to activate national selection mode very quickly. We are chameleons. No matter what jersey we wear, this is what we do. “, formulates Diana Taurasi, agreeing that “ This is probably the shortest time we have spent together » for preparation for the Games.
Don't break the streak
Knowing that this preparation would be shortened, Charyl Reeve, also at the head of the Minnesota Lynx, and his team worked in advance.
They knew the players well from playing against them in the WNBA and from spending time together with Team USA in previous years. The staff knew what type of offensive and defensive scheme they wanted to run.
” Wherever they are, they have this ability to sort things out. It's really special. They make it seem easy so people don't talk about it. […] I am amazed by their ability to do this. “, says the technician.
It is no coincidence that its players dominate world basketball so much. The Paris tournament should be no exception. We're going for the eighth (gold medal). No team wants to be the one to break this streak. ” warns Napheesa Collier.
