USA 90-75 Japan
The United States have completed another sweep of the basketball tournaments in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. After the US men’s team claimed their fourth consecutive gold, the US women snatched their seventh straight gold medal by beating hosts Japan, 90-75.
Brittney Griner, who was excellent throughout the knockout round, had another brilliant performance with 30 points to lead the US women to yet another blowout win.
And while the Japanese will be disappointed not to have been more competitive against the Americans, they should be proud of their achievement to win the first women’s basketball medal in their history.
Read on below for SBOTOP’s recap of the women’s basketball gold medal game.
Highlights of the game
The Olympics 2020 odds overwhelmingly favoured the US, who came into the game in fantastic form after back-to-back 20-point blowout wins of Australia in the quarter-finals and Serbia in the semis. The towering trio of A’Ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Brittney Griner had been superb as they simply overpowered their opponents on the inside.
And they came out all business to start the gold medal game. Griner immediately made his presence felt on both ends of the court as she made some early baskets, grabbed defensive rebounds, and blocked a couple of shots to help the US build up an early 18-5 lead after just six minutes.
While the US were dominating inside, Japan did hit a trio of 3-pointers to cut the lead down to 23-14 at the end of the first quarter.
The Japanese offence started looking a bit better in the second quarter. They finally converted some layups to stay close to the Americans. However, the US consistently answered back to keep the lead at around 6-7 points.
Wilson was active with six points and a couple of assists, while Griner continued to dominate inside. She went 4-of-4 on layups in the quarter as the Americans headed into half-time with an 11-point lead.
Still powered by Griner and Wilson, the US grew their lead even more in the third quarter, going up by as many as 24 points. They made a huge 16-4 run over a five-minute span to stretch the lead up to 20-plus points.
Meanwhile, the Japanese just could not get their 3-point shooting game going as they went only 1-of-7 from beyond the arc in the quarter.
The hosts faced an uphill battle down by 19 points to start the fourth quarter, and they didn’t help their cause by scoring just one basket in the first 3.5 minutes of the quarter. Japan’s cold shooting allowed the US to push their lead up to 25 points after another Griner layup.
With the gold medal pretty much in the bag, Wilson hardly played in the fourth quarter and Griner was subbed out with over four minutes remaining in the game.
The US started to let up a bit defensively, which allowed Japan to score a few more points – especially in the final few minutes – in an effort to make the score slightly more respectable.
But even with that late run, the US still ran out comfortable 15-point winners to clinch their seventh straight gold medal.
Key statistics
The US simply outclassed Japan on both ends of the court. The Americans shot a sizzling 53.6 per cent from the floor as the unstoppable duo of Griner and Wilson combined for 49 of their 90 points on a remarkable 22-of-31 shooting.
Meanwhile, the US defence held Japan to a paltry 36 per cent shooting from the field, including a miserable 26 per cent on 3-pointers.
Centre Maki Takada had 17 points to lead the Japanese team, while Nako Motohashi had 16 points and hit four of the team’s eight 3-pointers off the bench.
Star point guard Rui Machida, who made a bunch of Olympics 2020 highlights with a record 18 assists in the semi-final win against France, was limited to just six assists – by far her lowest total of the tournament.
As for the US, team-mates Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi have now won five Olympic gold medals, becoming the first basketball players ever to achieve that feat.
What’s next?
Despite getting thoroughly beaten by the US, the Japanese should still be jubilant as they made history by winning an Olympic medal in women’s basketball for the first time.
This is still a fairly young team overall – only Takada is over 30 years old – so the Japanese should fancy their chances of competing for another medal in Paris in three years’ time.
However, Team USA showed once again that they are still the undisputed top team in the women’s game. This is the last Games for both Bird and Taurasi, but Griner, Stewart, and Wilson will all be back in search of their eighth-straight gold in Paris.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE BASKETBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
