USA 90, Russia 80

This one was worth ditching Brazil vs. Spain for. Basically, even more so after I learned Brazil had lost by one point on a blown call before a sold out Ibirapuera. That made me happier. Well, not happier because we lost, but mainly because I wasn't there to watch it. I was there for the game against Australia and it wasn't pretty. But that's for another post. I am trying to catch up, so here's what I remember from this game. The Russians came to win this game, so it wasn't 2002 all over again. Only thing is that the US also came to win and they started out firing on all cylinders. It was very clear from the begining that the US would explore Russians' flawed perimeter defense and get away with it, so they converted three 3-pointers early on with Tina Thompson and Diana Taurasi and kept on firing from long range. The Russians on the other end couldn't buy a 3-pointer and take advantage of the Americans' flawed perimeter defense. See a pattern? They let the US open a big lead in the first quarter only to come back within 4 in the second. That's when things started unraveling for the Russians. On a freakish play similar to a car wreck, several players collided and Russia's starting poing guard Oxana Rakhmatulina hurt her knee and had to be taken out of the game. The Russians were already without forward Tatiana Shchegoleva who had left the game with a sprained ankle. From that point on what had been a furious comeback became a rout with a simple chess move. The Russian coach had Russian Turnover Machine Svetlana Abrosimova running the point. That was one tall lineup, but not the most coordinated one. I have no idea why he didn't go with Ekaterina Demagina or even Ilona Korstin to run the point. Either one would have been a way better option than my beloved Svet. Also, it was interesting that she played so many minutes against the US and barely got off the bench against France and Czech Republic. In any case, the US used fastbreaks to take over the game and the Russians couldn't keep up. The very confused officiating crew had the Russian starting frontcourt in foul trouble early on and 3 minutes into the third quarter Maria Stepanova fouled out. She was unbelievable in the game. Her mid range jumper is a thing of beauty and not one American post player could stop her. Once she stepped out of the paint, it was over. Swish. Stepanova converted 8 of 10 field goal attempts, but couldn't do it all by herself. Once she was gone, that opened things up for the post players and then it became the Candace Parker show. Natalia Vodopyanova was the only other scoring threat on the Russian Team and that wasn't enough to challenge the US. Russia failed to score points out of the Americans' 22 turnovers and the fourth quarter was rather disappointing for those who were expecting high IQ basketball from both teams.
In the end, it was clear that the US have no challengers in the tournament and they're just having fun inbetween now and the 23rd.

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